Assisted dying/assisted suicide

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) does not take a position on the principle of assisted dying/assisted suicide (AD/AS) nor on whether parliaments should pass legislation to introduce AD/AS services.

Psychiatry is a pluralistic profession, and we know that our members hold a wide range of views on the principle of this complex and sensitive issue. We have sought to engage on the detail of the different bills before parliaments across the British Isles, led by our members based in the jurisdiction covered by a particular proposal in each instance.

There have been a number of legislative proposals to introduce AD/AS services across the British Isles in recent years, with bills tabled covering England, Wales, Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man. We have worked to inform their development by providing our clinical expertise.

Our work has been based on:

• extensive consideration by our UK-wide working group on this complex subject
• a survey of members in Scotland
• a call for views of members in Scotland at Stage 3 of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill
• a survey of members in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey and the Isle of Man
• a hybrid debate held for members
• direct engagement with members
• discussions with parliamentarians and colleagues in jurisdictions outside of the UK. 

With live proposals in the Crown Dependencies, and following a public consultation in Scotland and an inquiry in Westminster, the RCPsych assembled a working group on AD/AS in early 2024, before the current UK government was elected and before it was known that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would be tabled.

Initially, the purpose of the group was to develop a position statement or report that would then serve as the basis for engaging with proposals, inquiries and consultations on the topic. However, the policy landscape quickly changed and with it so too did our plans to produce a standalone document.

Liam McArthur MSP tabled his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill before Holyrood in March 2024. Lord Charles Falconer and then Kim Leadbeater MBE MP each brought forward their own proposals for England and Wales in the House of Lords and the House of Commons respectively.

The working group has met monthly since its inception, advising RCPsych officers on our engagement with our members and with parliamentarians on draft legislation in Westminster, discussing proposals across the British Isles, and considering aspects of proposals that are relevant to psychiatrists and our patients.

The Devolved Council of the RCPsych in Scotland has regularly considered this issue as well.

In forming the working group, the chairs of our faculties in England, Devolved Nations’ councils and of relevant committees and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were each asked to nominate one member to sit on the group. Representation was also sought from formal roles within the RCPsych, such as associate dean and registrar roles.

Each person on the working group represents a different area of the RCPsych, with the thinking behind this being to keep the group to a manageable size while allowing for input from all relevant parts of the College. As roles across the RCPsych have changed, membership of the working group has been updated over time.

The list of working group members is available for our members:

View the AD/AS working group members (RCPsych members only)

We have primarily been led by the clinical expertise of our members to develop the views of the profession in relation to each bill.

At each stage of our engagement with different parliaments, we have focused on the potential impacts on our patients: people with mental illness, intellectual disabilities, neurodevelopmental conditions and neuropsychiatric conditions.

Over the course of our engagement with different proposals, members of the working group have liaised with their respective patient and carer representatives, such as those on faculty executive committees.

At each stage of the parliamentary process, we have made written and oral submissions to MPs in the House of Commons and Members of the House of Lords respectively. The timeline of our engagement is set out below:

• Ahead of the first vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in November 2024, we sent a briefing to MPs, before issuing a media briefing and public comment.
• After we submitted written evidence in January 2025, that same month Dr Annabel Price (RCPsych Assisted Dying Lead for Westminster) gave oral evidence to the House of Commons’ Public Bill Committee for the bill.
• Prior to the report stage debate and third reading vote in the House of Commons, we provided a briefing for MPs, engaged with media, and issued a press release. We made it clear that we couldn’t support the bill in its current form due to the practical concerns and questions that we had raised until that point, which had gone unaddressed and unanswered.
• The following month, we issued a joint statement with the Royal College of Physicians for all MPs, raising our shared concerns and outlining the bill’s deficiencies.
• With the bill passing third reading and advancing to the House of Lords, we sent a written briefing to all Peers in July 2025. This briefing set out aspects of the bill that we believed needed to be improved.
• In September 2025, we hosted an online briefing session for peers on the bill.
• The next month, we sent a further written briefing to Members of the House of Lords, highlighting that this stage in the process was an important opportunity to improve the bill so that it better protects vulnerable patients and aligns with the roles and core duties of psychiatrists.
• We also provided written evidence and oral evidence to the House of Lords Bill Committee about the proposed Panel and other parts of the bill in October 2025.

Although justice is reserved to Westminster, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has implications for the health service in Wales, a devolved policy area.

The UK Parliament therefore sought legislative consent from the Senedd for this bill. The Welsh Government published four Legislative Consent Memoranda in total, firstly in April 2025 and then in July 2025, December 2025 and February 2026.

RCPsych Wales has engaged with MSs at all relevant stages, as follows:

• We briefed Senedd Members ahead of a Member Debate on assisted dying in October 2024.
• In June and October 2025, we hosted drop-in events at the Senedd to share our concerns about the bill. Both events were sponsored by the Deputy Llywydd of the Senedd, David Rees MS.
• In June 2025, we submitted written evidence in response to a call for evidence by the Health and Social Care Committee. This evidence was cited in the Committee’s report and informed its recommendations.
• We briefed Senedd Members ahead of the debate on legislative consent in February 2026.

The Senedd narrowly voted to grant legislative consent to the bill in February 2026, reflecting a view that the Senedd and Welsh Ministers should have the necessary powers over the operation and delivery of AD/AS in Wales should the bill come into force.

The RCPsych in Scotland (RCPsychiS) formally engaged at each stage of the parliamentary process for the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, including providing written and oral evidence and briefing MSPs. Specifically:

• We submitted written evidence on this Bill to the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Sport and Social Care Committee in August 2024. This came after also providing a submission to Liam McArthur MSP’s 2021 public consultation before his bill was formally tabled.
• We also gave oral evidence to the Committee in November 2024 on mental health considerations, safeguards against coercion, assessing capacity, the influence of physical illness on mental health, the interaction between the bill and existing capacity/mental health legislation and access to psychological support.
• In May 2025, RCPsychiS provided MSPs with a briefing ahead of the stage 1 vote in Holyrood, welcoming a number of provisions in the bill and the Scottish Government's Stage 1 Report that had been taken forward from our previous recommendations regarding a central register for psychiatrists while also sharing concerns the potential for extension of eligibility and associated questions for people with anorexia nervosa and dementia.
• We submitted amendments to stage 2 via Jackie Baillie MSP.
• In February 2026, we met with Liam McArthur MSP.
• The RCPsychiS issued a consensus statement, alongside a number of other medical royal colleges and professional membership bodies, in February 2026, warning of significant concerns regarding proposed changes to remove no duty to participate and conscientious objection provisions from the bill.
• Ahead of the stage 3 vote, we briefed all MSPs.
• We submitted amendments via Jackie Baillie MSP at stage 3 for a central register of psychiatrists to be included in the bill’s wording.
• Upon request, we met with a number of MSPs
• Then, following further member-wide engagement in Scotland and a vote at our Council, we moved to oppose the Scottish bill following the removal of section 18 at stage 3. This move took place prior to the final vote by MSPs on the bill. We were clear that while we remain neutral on the principle of assisted dying, the removal of these provisions significantly weakened safeguards for psychiatrists and other healthcare professions.

The strength of feeling expressed during the debate suggests this issue will remain an important area of public policy. We have engaged constructively with policymakers and legislators in this area since 2010 and will continue to engage constructively with MSPs and stakeholders, and to offer our expertise to inform any future consideration of assisted dying legislation in Scotland.

The House of Keys has passed AD/AS legislation which could make it available from 2027 to residents of the Isle of Man who are 'mentally competent' and have less than 12 months to live.

Similarly, the States Assembly in Jersey has passed its own assisted dying bill. This legislation covers people with terminal illnesses causing unbearable suffering where they are expected to die within six months, or 12 months for those with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's and motor neurone disease. The earliest a service could be operational in Jersey would be in the summer of 2027.

In Jersey:

• the RCPsych responded directly to the Government of Jersey’s public consultation on assisted dying/assisted suicide.
• we also sent a letter to the Chief Minister and Health Minister in Jersey ahead of a States Assembly debate, reiterating some points expressed in our 2023 consultation submission to the Jersey Government on assisted dying.
• in November 2025, we submitted written evidence to the States Assembly’s Assisted Dying Panel’s review into proposed legislation.

The working group still meets monthly.

As proposals traverse their respective parliamentary journeys, we will continue to provide evidence to parliaments and formally engage with lawmakers as appropriate. Likewise, for those bills that are passed into law, we will remain as the voice of our profession as AD/AS services are implemented. We will continue to provide guidance for our members and maintain our focus on protecting people with mental illness.

We are also reviewing available research and identifying where the gaps are so that the evidence base can be built up.

As each member of the working group represents a different part of the RCPsych, you can get in touch with your representative directly through your relevant council, faculty, special interest group or committee.

Alternatively, you can provide your views to Ollie Kavanagh Penno from the RCPsych’s policy team based in London at oliver.kpenno@rcpsych.ac.uk.