Estimated 12 people a day could use assisted dying service after 10 years

Up to 12 people a day could be using an assisted dying service a decade after it is introduced and end-of-life care costs could be cut by millions, an official impact assessment has concluded.

- Eleni Courea

The total number of people using the service in England and Wales is expected to rise from between 164 and 787 in the first year to between 1,042 and 4,559 in the 10th, according to the government's estimates.

The central estimate is that 2,183 people would use the service in its 10th year.

The panels set up to approve procedures would cost about £2,000 a day, adding up to between £900,000 and £3.6m over a 10-year period. The total cost of running the panels - and employing a dedicated commissioner - would be between £10.9m and £13.6m a year, the Whitehall document said.

But the potential savings to the NHS of accelerating the deaths of terminally ill people were expected to range from between £919,000 and £10.3m in the first year to between £5.8m and £59.6m in the 10th.

The 149-page document, produced by the Department of Health and Social Care, calculated the potential savings as part of an overall impact assessment. This was ordered as part of a parliamentary bill sponsored by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, which is due to be voted on again on 16 May.