One point quite often lost in the debate about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill before the Westminster Parliament is as to the numbers of those who might still need the feel to travel to Switzerland were it to pass. In this regard, it is perhaps of interest to recall a paper published in 2025 which sought to estimate, using the data of the three Swiss providers to non-residents, the numbers who would fall outside the 6 month prognosis requirement contained in the Bill, and which is a central plank of its approach (see, for instance, the debate on the issue in the Lords in the context of the reliability of the prognosis on 20 March).
As ever in this zone, data can be complex to analyse (and it is perhaps important to note that two of the authors of the paper are members of My Death, My Decision, who seek a different form of framework to that contained in the Bill). But, nonetheless, it is perhaps of note that they conclude that less than half of UK residents who went to Switzerland in the period that they studied would have been able to access assistance under a framework with a 6 month prognosis.
It is far from clear whether this is well understood more generally – the pre-registration survey responses to the February 2026 National Mental Capacity Forum webinar on mental capacity and the Bill that are discussed in the recording here strongly suggest that it is not, even amongst those sufficiently interested in the issue to attend a webinar on the subject.
