Time is running out to right the wrongs of England and Wales’s assisted dying legislation. The House of Lords is holding committee sittings, which involve line-by-line examinations of the bill, on 5 and 12 December. Meanwhile, the second stage of the Scottish assisted dying for terminally ill adults bill has recently been completed. In many ways, the Scottish legislation is even more troubling.

The shocking revelations from the National Audit Office and Hospice UK in October about the worsening financial crisis faced by end-of-life care are a sharp reminder of what needs to be changed if we are to be fair to dying people.

No one can doubt the sympathy that the bill’s supporters feel for the plight of those struggling with pain and fear at the end of their lives. But the starting point should not be a hastily implemented law to allow doctors to administer death – it should instead be improved end-of-life care.

The report revealed that financial shortfalls faced by hospices are growing by the year. Out of 2,000 beds in England, 380 are now out of use, removing thousands of days and nights of care every year. Staff at Hospice UK are aware of at least 20 hospices that have recently announced cuts, one of them being Derbyshire’s Ashgate Hospice, which can now only afford to staff six out of its 15 inpatient beds. The result is that the number of patients cared for by hospices in the UK –

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