GPs could be trained to help terminally ill patients end their own lives under plans drawn up for England and Wales, a Department of Health and Social Care impact assessment has revealed.
The proposed training would include a 90-minute online course followed by a 60-minute interactive session for healthcare workers needing general awareness of a voluntary assisted dying service.
However, the document also sets out a more intensive pathway for doctors who become involved in delivering the service. That could include a full day of face-to-face training, while those taking on the role of co-ordinating doctor would require an advanced two-day course.
The co-ordinating doctor would be responsible for overseeing the final stages of the process, including explaining how the approved substance would bring about death, obtaining it from a pharmacist and providing it directly to the patient.
Under the Bill, the doctor could prepare the substance and assist the patient to ingest or self-administer it. The final decision and act of taking the substance would, however, have to be carried out by the patient.
The doctor would also be required to remain with the patient until they had died, the procedure had failed or the patient had decided not to go ahead. The draft legislation allows the doctor to remain nearby without necessarily being in the same room.
The impact assessment says the training arrangements are illustrative and could change as the proposals are developed. It identifies three tiers, ranging from general awareness training to specialist preparation for doctors expected to lead the service.
Assisted dying doctors would face additional safeguards
Doctors acting as co-ordinating or independent doctors would be required to undergo training in assessing mental capacity and identifying coercion or pressure. The proposed requirements would also cover reasonable adjustments for autistic and disabled people, as well as domestic abuse, coercive control and financial abuse.
Those doctors would have to satisfy themselves that a patient had a clear, settled and informed wish to die and was acting voluntarily. If there were doubts about capacity, the patient would have to be referred to a psychiatrist or another suitably qualified practitioner.
Healthcare professionals who do not wish to participate would be able to opt out. The Bill would also mean that no doctor would be obliged to raise the subject of assisted dying with a patient, although doctors unwilling to conduct an initial discussion would have to direct the person to a source of information and assessment.
The proposals have been criticised by campaigners who oppose assisted dying. Dr Gillian Wright, of the healthcare workers’ network Our Duty of Care, said a short online course would not be enough to help doctors detect coercion or undue influence.
She also warned that depression, loneliness and anxiety were common among people with terminal illnesses, and argued that more should be done to provide psychological support and palliative care.
“This assisted dying bill is still not safe,” she said. “We do not know enough about the training that would be required for doctors taking part.”
England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, previously said that doctors involved in the later stages of assisted dying would need specific training, while a much larger number of clinicians might only be involved in initial conversations with patients.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow eligible adults with a terminal illness to request assistance to end their own lives, subject to safeguards including assessments by two doctors and approval by a multidisciplinary review panel.
The current Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 17 June 2026 and is scheduled for its second reading on Friday 11 September. If approved by MPs, it would continue through Parliament before it could become law.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said Parliament would decide whether the Bill was passed and that the Government remained committed to ensuring people received high-quality, compassionate care throughout the end of their lives.
