Chamber and committees

Lastly, we have talked about a panel, registers and lots of different ways of assessing. A lot of that is really just for cases of doubt, as Professor Potts has already mentioned. We have to be clear that most cases will be pretty straightforward, so this is for those special cases. Do you think that, for the assessors to use such a pathway, some form of credentialling, which would obviously involve extra training, would be important?

Yes.

Dr Neal, I see that you are nodding, and I acknowledge what you said earlier. Is there a way to stop the courts from moving the definition on without a parliamentary change to primary legislation? Is there a way to keep the definition tight?

I refer people to my entry in the register of members’ interests as a practising national health service general practitioner, and I note that I chaired the steering group for the bill.

May I pick up a bit more about training, please? Professor White, you said that there is a baseline of knowledge. Is there a requirement for an annual review or oversight of the training?

What is the minimum age for eligibility?

Why was 18 chosen as the number? That might have been because of what you have just said.

With my final question, I want to focus on workload. Obviously, your system is very different from ours. Here in the United Kingdom, we do not charge. How many people per capita would you say go through the assisted dying process? I do not mean how many complete the process; how many at least start the process? If we had that information, that would help us to work out what that would mean for the workload over here.

Is a different amount of training required for the different parts of what happens? For example, is there a bespoke version of the training for your care co-ordinator or the doctor who would administer the medications?

I have a question about workload. In Australia, is assisted dying something that is provided by independent practitioners who perform that role in particular, or is it added on to the role that, for example, a general practitioner would perform here?

Yes.