Biography
Baroness Scotland of Asthal made five debate speeches on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, addressing palliative care availability and mental health assessment frameworks. She emphasized that palliative care is not uniformly accessible across the country, arguing this must be addressed to ensure genuine choice for patients, and raised concerns about how the Mental Capacity Act definition interacts with the Bill, advocating for consideration of the Mental Health Act 1983 in psychiatric assessments. She stressed the importance of evidence-based decision-making and called for careful alignment of capacity and mental health legislation to ensure the matter was handled appropriately.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“I never suggested that they should be alternatives. The truth is that palliative care is not available in all parts of our country, so this has to be a real choice. That is the only element I made. Also, I hope that all of us would look at the evidence, from wherever it came.”
Record by topic
- Palliative & end of life care213th of 5686.0
- Mental health603rd of 8804.0
What they’ve said
“…We know that, with good palliative care, they can be enabled to make an informed decision. That informed decision may be that they still want to take a step, but the opportunity to get that support is essential.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2025-11-14 · Read on Hansard ↗
“If we look at what Professor Foster and others have said, they say that the Mental Health Act 1983 is the sort of assessment that a psychiatrist should make as to whether they are in a position to make that decision. It is not just the MCA on its own—”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2025-11-14 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…But we also heard that New Zealand had moved from being the third most successful in delivering palliative care to the 12th, and there was a direct correlation, we were told, between the reduction in the investment in palliative care and the existence of the new service.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2025-11-14 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…This issue has to be looked at. We have to be serious about looking at the Mental Health Act 1983, looking at the Act on capacity and coming up with something that suits. This is too serious for us not to do it.”
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · 2025-11-14 · Read on Hansard ↗
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