The assisted dying bill published this week (November 11) has set out that pharmacy technicians could play a role in the process if the law is passed.
It proposes that “a registered pharmacy technician” would be involved in the “provision of assistance to that person to end their own life”.
Read more: C+D Snap Poll: 74% of pharmacists in favour of assisted dying
Any “health professional” including a registered pharmacist, pharmacy technician, nurse or medical practitioner could play a role in assisted dying, according to the new bill to be debated in parliament.
It does, however, state that these healthcare professionals would be under “no obligation to provide assistance”.
Read more: CPS ‘partially supports’ assisted dying with pharmacist ‘opt-out’ clause
“No registered medical practitioner or other health professional is under any duty (whether arising from any contract, statute or otherwise) to participate in provision of assistance in accordance with this Act”, it said.
The bill also states that health professionals will not be subject to “criminal liability” or “civil liability” for “providing assistance to a person to end their own life”.
Hotly debated
Officially known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Labour MP for Spen Valley Kim Leadbeater formally presented the bill to the House of Commons last month (October 16).
MPs are set to debate the highly controversial bill – which aims to “allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life” – for the first time in just over two weeks (November 29).
Read more: Opinion: Assisted dying, and the importance of protecting conscience
President of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) Nicola Stockmann told C+D that the organisation acknowledges the “recognition of pharmacy technicians through inclusion in the bill”.
As a profession, pharmacy technicians are “able to support safe and legal supply of medications in line with ethical practice and professional standards”, she said.
The pharmacy sector has previously had mixed opinions about the level of responsibility given to pharmacy technicians.
Read more: Amazing news for pharmacy technicians or a disaster waiting to happen?
Some have been uneasy with the idea of the profession carrying out one-to-one consultations, giving injections and dispensing medicine, with locum pharmacist Tohidul Islam calling it “a disaster waiting to happen” earlier this year.
But others have seen it as a way to save money and improve pharmacy services - the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) said that enabling pharmacy technicians to take on extra services would “increase capacity for pharmacy teams”.
Read more: The assisted dying debate
Meanwhile, a C+D snap poll in August revealed that 74% of pharmacists were in favour of legalising assisted dying in some capacity.
And Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) said in the same month that it “partially supports” the Scottish parliament’s proposal to legalise assisted dying.
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