Social Work Scotland response to Scottish Parliament’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill
August 2024
INTRODUCTION
Social Work Scotland is the professional body for social work leaders, working closely with our partners to shape policy and practice, and improve the quality and experience of social services. As an organisation and across our members we are committed to service improvement and ongoing development based on evidence and research on how as a society, we can best meet the needs of our citizens and particularly those who experience the greatest challenges and barriers to their wellbeing and lives.
Social Work Scotland represents social work leaders across Scotland. The profession is based on the principles of human rights, reflecting the value of all individuals and upholding their rights is expressed in the SSSC Codes of Practice and in the BASW code of ethics. These underline the inherent worth and dignity of all people, demonstrated in practice through relationships, and promotion of self-determination, participation and wellbeing.
This also means that social justice and advocating for the wellbeing and rights of citizens, is part of the context within which we operate, balancing often-complex issues of competing rights and a challenging legislative and social environment. Rights rarely sit in isolation, but impact on wider society and those who make up that society.
Thus, understanding the impact of loss and trauma on individuals is important, including how that affects decision making, and how views can change over time.
Social work spans the spectrum of need in the children, adult and justice arenas. The profession works with some of the most vulnerable in society, and often at times of trauma distress and crisis, assessing risk and providing a holistic context for decision making. Palliative care, disability, mental health and substance use, and a societal context of poverty and discrimination are features which impact on much of our work. An overarching focus is working in a relational manner.
The area of assisted dying is complex and emotive. Our membership as individuals and practitioners hold a range of views, all of which are respected and legitimate. Our response seeks to highlight learning from other spheres where we work and to underline the criticality of viewing assisted dying as more than a medical matter linking this to the wider legislative and practice context, which it is hoped will assist the Health, Social Care and Sports Committee in their deliberations.
The reflections within this response are drawn from consultation with our membership which covers senior leaders in social work, including Chief Social Work Officers, service and team managers from across the country in both local authorities and third sector involved in delivery of services to children and adults.
