"My Lords, I know it is not normal to speak at this stage, so I will be brief. I thank the Minister and everyone who has worked on this Bill, but I want to raise one or two anxieties which have already been touched on.
"My Lords, I am also against these amendments. I will disclose a conflict of interest: I started smoking when I was 16—and 33 years later, like many of us who start to smoke at that age, because it is a childhood disease, I gave up.
"My Lords, I speak to Amendments 12, 13 and 15 in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn. I repeat my conflicts of interest: I am of Maltese heritage, I am a doctor and I am co-chair of the APPG. My amendments are narrow, they are practical …..." Baroness Gerada - View Speech
"I thank the noble Lord very much. I have to also tell your Lordships that for the last 20 years I have led what is called the practitioner health programme, which has looked after the mental health of the medical workforce—I no longer lead it. To date, about 40,000, mainly …..." Baroness Gerada - View Speech
"My Lords, as probably the only person in this Chamber who has headed up a royal college not once but twice—the Royal College of General Practitioners—I feel the urge just to defend them and correct what is been said three times in this Chamber. The royal colleges set the standards …..." Baroness Gerada - View Speech
"My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 15, 16 and 19. I want to disclose an interest that I did not have at Second Reading: I am now co-chair of the Malta APPG—and I remain of Maltese heritage.
"I am grateful to the Minister for the care with which she has addressed my amendments. I will be very brief. I must say I am disappointed, and I have a few points.
I will address Malta first. These are not international medical graduates; these are UK-trained doctors training in …..." Baroness Gerada - View Speech
"I was not aware of that research. The evidence shows, and we heard it from the Australian group, that where voluntary assisted death is in place, the provision of palliative care is improved. In Australia, a great deal more resource was put in to providing palliative care. My point, however, …..." Baroness Gerada - View Speech
"My Lords, I am completely in favour of Amendment 87. I have permission to use the name of my patient, Melanie Spooner, who died from anorexia nervosa—she died from taking her own life. The end point of anorexia nervosa is often that the patient wants to die. As such, it …..." Baroness Gerada - View Speech