The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, along with six other medical and healthcare membership organisations, has issued a joint consensus statement outlining significant concern regarding changes now being proposed to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
The organisations - whose members span a wide range of clinical and ethical perspectives on assisted dying - emphasise that while they take no collective position on the principle of assisted dying, they are united in their concern that provisions relating to no duty to participate and conscientious objection may be removed from the Bill, and the impact that this could have on the workforce.
The Scottish Government has recently indicated that key provisions relating to ‘no duty to participate’, as well as other protections linked to professional regulation and employment rights, are not within devolved powers and may be removed from the Bill at Stage 3. These issues would instead be addressed later through a Section 104 Order - secondary legislation that receives only limited parliamentary scrutiny.
The signatory organisations state that removing issues of such significance risks undermining both professional confidence and public trust.
The joint letter, sent today to Liam McArthur MSP, the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, as well as the Secretary of State and Chair of the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, states:
“The prospect of removing matters of such professional, ethical, and legal significance from parliamentary scrutiny at Stage 3, and deferring them to secondary legislation after the Bill has passed, raises important questions about transparency, accountability, and the robustness of the legislative process. These protections are central to the safe, ethical, and fair delivery of care, and to the confidence of our medical workforce who may be affected by the legislation.”
The organisations highlight four core concerns:
- Removal of key safeguards from primary legislation
- Risk to professional confidence and public trust
- Inadequate scrutiny of consequential provisions
- Implications for safe and ethical implementation
The group of organisations in consensus express their continuing commitment to work constructively with the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament to ensure that any legislation affecting assisted dying is developed transparently, rigorously, and with full consideration of the healthcare workforce it will impact.
Signatory organisations:
- Association for Palliative Medicine (Scotland)
- Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland
- Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland
- Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Royal Pharmaceutical Society
A full copy of the consensus statement is available for download.