Six Scottish healthcare bodies have raised concerns over “provisions relating to ‘no duty to participate’” and “protections linked to professional regulation and employment rights” in the bill
In a letter sent to Liam McArthur MSP, they said the changes are “not within devolved powers’ and may be removed from the bill “at Stage 3”.
These issues will then be legislated “later through a Section 104 Order”, which is “secondary legislation that receives only limited parliamentary scrutiny”.
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The organisations have said they “take no collective position on the principle of assisted dying”, but instead are raising concerns over the potential removal of “provisions relating to no duty to participate and conscientious objection”.
“Removing issues of such significance risks undermining both professional confidence and public trust,” they added.
“The prospect of removing matters of such professional, ethical, and legal significance from parliamentary scrutiny at Stage 3, and deferring them to secondary legislation after the Bill has passed, raises important questions about transparency, accountability, and the robustness of the legislative process.
Read more: Assisted dying: Pharmacists’ voices are ‘missing’ from dialogue
“These protections are central to the safe, ethical, and fair delivery of care, and to the confidence of our medical workforce who may be affected by the legislation.”
Safe, ethical care
The letter was sent to Liam McArthur MSP; the Scottish Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee; the cabinet secretary for Health and Social Care; and the secretary of state and chair of the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee.
The organisations who signed the letter were:
- RPS Scotland
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland
- Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Association for Palliative Medicine (Scotland)
- Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland
- Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland
It comes after Baroness Finlay raised concern over the assisted dying bill for England, citing that she “had concerns for pharmacists”.
The problems raised were about where liability would lie if it “is dispensed in community pharmacy and there has been an error” and over the role of “pharmacy technicians” working “under authorisation of a pharmacist”.
In May, in England the Labour MP for Spen Valley and sponsor of the bill Kim Leadbeater tabled an amendment to ensure pharmacy workers can be exempt from “any duty to participate”.
Workers would be under “no obligation to provide assistance” and would then face protection from being “subject to detriment”.
