RCGP Scotland assisted dying update

RCGP SCOTLAND RESTATES OPPOSITION TO ANY BILL ON ASSISTED DYING WITHOUT PROPER SAFEGUARDS 

Today, the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland (RCGP Scotland) expressed concerns that as things stand, the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill lacks adequate safeguards for healthcare staff and their patients. 

While the College neither supports nor opposes assisted dying, the College would oppose any law being implemented without clear legal protections for healthcare staff. This should include protections both for those who opt in to being involved and clear legal protections to ensure no healthcare staff can be forced to be involved in the process. 

The College has concluded that the Bill does not deliver the safeguards required to protect both GPs and patients. Whether these protections are guaranteed in the Scottish Parliament or the Westminster Parliament what matters is that no law is ever introduced without iron-clad protections for patients and healthcare professionals. 

Commenting, RCGP Scotland Chair Dr Chris Provan said: “The Royal College of General Practitioners’ UK Council agreed last year to adopt a position of neither supporting nor opposing assisted dying. We recognise that assisted dying remains a deeply emotive issue for both GPs and the wider public.  

“The College has engaged with the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill to ensure that, if introduced, the legislation reflects key principles for a safe, high quality and consistent assisted dying service, and that both patients and GPs are properly protected.

“We are hugely concerned that essential protections for healthcare professionals may be removed due to issues of legislative competency. It is vital that GPs are able to choose whether or not they wish to participate in assisted dying, are protected from discrimination based on that choice, and are provided the highest quality training if they opt in to supporting patients in the assisted dying process. This is what our patients deserve. 

“Currently general practice is under significant pressure, and we would oppose any move to add such a complex service of this nature without adequate funding – there should be a separate assisted dying service for patients to access. 

“The robustness and transparency of the legislative process for a Bill of this magnitude must be beyond reproach. While the RCGP has no position on the legalisation of assisted dying in principle and remains open to considering future proposals, we would oppose any construction of assisted dying that did not ensure protection for GPs who want, and do not want to participate."  

Further information 

Notes to editors: 

The Royal College of General Practitioner’s Council voted to move to a position of neither supporting nor opposing assisted dying being legal on 14 March 2025. Read more here.  

In September 2024, RCGP Council agreed a set of principles that should be applied if legislation is introduced to legalise assisted dying in any of the jurisdictions of the UK or the Crown Dependencies. These principles have fed into the College's ongoing influencing activity in response to the current legislative developments on assisted dying. 

These principles include that: 

• Any assisted dying service should be seen as a standalone specialised service that GPs and other healthcare professionals may opt to provide with additional training and should not be deemed core GP work. 
• There should be a right for GPs to refuse to participate in the assisted dying process on any ground, and statutory protection making it unlawful to discriminate against them for doing so. 
• An independent and transparent system of oversight, monitoring and regulation should be established. 
• There should be a full and extensive consultation on defining the regulatory framework, standards and training for all those involved in delivering assisted dying services. Work to define standards and training for those involved in delivering assisted dying services would need to be conducted on a cross College, multi-professional basis. 
• Any assisted dying service would need to be separately and adequately resourced and should not, in any way, result in a de-prioritisation of core general practice or palliative care services. 

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray MSP, wrote to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 4 February 2026 to confirm that a section 104 Order would be needed in relation to, "employment protections for people who refuse to be involved in assisted dying, which may relate to the H1 reservation (employment and industrial relations), and potentially the G2 reservation." Read more here

Contact us

Media requests to Marcus Carslaw, Policy and Public Relations Officer RCGP Scotland, Tel: 07808 795493 / marcus.carslaw@rcgp.org.uk