‘Hospice care is life affirming’: call to focus on role of palliative care in UK assisted dying bill

Those running hospices want any change in the law to go hand in hand with greater government investment

Sitting at his wife’s bedside, Len was grateful she was in the care of end-of-life experts in her last days. In the softly lit, tranquil room, he could spend as much time with Adela as possible, staying overnight on a pull-out bed if he wanted to, while waiting for her inevitable release from cancer.

“We were told in July that chemo was no longer working and her life was now limited,” he said. At home, Adela had become “weaker and weaker”, unable to manage the stairs to the bathroom. Eventually, it was suggested she be admitted to St Joseph’s hospice in Hackney, east London.