Mr. Andrew Copson:

I understand. Certainly there needs to be investment. If we take the case of Belgium, for example, it linked assisted dying to end-of-life care and options and its palliative care ranking improved significantly as a result.

Certainly, any jurisdiction that considers the introduction of assisted dying needs to think about safeguards, which are vital - as the question to the other witness indicated - and also investment in palliative care, which should always go up. Investment in palliative care should go up regardless of the introduction or otherwise of assisted dying. In the six years since Canada legalised assisted dying, the country has seen the largest increase in expenditure on palliative care ever made in the history of palliative care. In the various jurisdictions where this has occurred, it is not just as a result of government and medical decisions but also as a result of conversations about assisted dying having pushed the whole question of end-of-life care further up the agenda, which is healthy in society in general.