The House of Lords had a debate yesterday on end-of-life care; this allowed Lord Warner to ask for support for the Dignity in Dying charter for dignity at the end of life. This allowed their Lordships to canter round the same topics as the Westminer Hall MPs a week or so ago. As a member of the British Humanist Association, Warner, of course, seeks to argue for people’s rational control of decisions, and therefore, supports Dignity in Dying’s aim to promote assisted dying.

Warner, experienced both in social care (as a former Director of Social Services) and health care (as a minister) also mentions the importance of advance care planning and open communication between health and social care staff; these factors also promote rational decision-making and got wider support in the debate.

The point is that social care staff have long-standing relationships, sometimes years of caring services, with people at the end of life and ought to be well-placed to respond to their concerns about planning for their death.

However, end-of-life care is so medicalised that they do not understand it as their role to make sure that these concerns are picked up and dealt with. The end of life care strategy rightly picks up the need for better training in social care, firstly of social workers who have the complex assessment and review role, and then of everyday carers, who can pick up and respond appropriately to end-of-life worries.

Read the debate at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/81118-gc0001.htm#08111883000002