Although I am a full-time GP, I have had the privilege of working part-time at St Andrew’s Hospice, Airdrie. Patients with terminal illnesses of all kinds and their relatives can there receive such care and help as they may require.
Approaching the end of life stage, patients go on to the Liverpool Care Pathway, an accepted and well-established package of care, which ensures they have a peaceful, dignified end, but there is no suggestion of ‘assisted dying’. To contemplate such an action is against all the ideals of the Hospice movement.
I hope this brings clarity for those who are uncertain of what Hospices are about.
Dr Colin Lees
Airdrie, Lanarkshire
