Dr. Kristin Good:

Yes. Government agreed to fund assisted dying as part of the ordinary health service. Assisted dying is fully funded. It is funded on a fee-for-service basis. We consulted with practitioners around what was going to be acceptable to them because this is extremely time-consuming medicine. We also had an independent organisation give advice on the level of funding that was deemed appropriate. I am aware that in other jurisdictions where funding has not been available to practitioners, it has been very hard to attract practitioners to do this work.

I cannot really speak on funding for palliative care as that sits outside my remit. It does not sit with the Ministry of Health, although I understand there is some work around that. It did not happen at the same time as assisted dying came into force. What I have seen, however, is that people who make applications for assisted dying can get access to palliative care where they previously could not. In those circumstances, that has changed the trajectory for some people. Some 77% of people are accessing assisted dying at the single point in time where they contact the service to explore the option of assisted dying for them. Quite a proportion of those people who were not accessing such care do so subsequently, but some people just do not want to access palliative care in the same way that some people do not want to access social supports or medical treatments. I may not have specifically answered the Deputy's question on funding because it does not actually sit with the Ministry of Health.