Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Baroness O'Loan and Lord Birt

Committee stage
Friday 23rd January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness O'Loan (CB)]

I have been to A&E many times, particularly with my son, and I have never had a navigator. How does one have a navigator in A&E?

[Lord Birt (CB)]

I am sorry; perhaps the noble Baroness can talk to me later, as I could not take in what she said.

I am, frankly, open-minded about the NHS question and accept the strength of what the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, says. It may well be that this is an organisation that should be apart from the NHS but uses some of its services. However, I am happy to talk to others about how best to do that.

I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Harper, that the process can, and should, be designed not only to support assisted dying but to painstakingly explore the alternatives to assisted dying, and I did say this. We suggest that palliative care should be one of those services and, whatever the reasons that people have for assisted dying—there may be others beside their chronic near-death state of mind—we also propose that the organisational body should be able to help the person in other sorts of ways. We want it to be a balanced process.