Parliamentary Questions

I refer to page 16 of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board Western Australia Annual Report 2021-22 that notes that in the 2021-22 reporting period, 30 First Assessments had a ‘not eligible’ outcome, and page 17 that states ‘In 2021-22, the most common reason patients were found to be ineligible was because they had not been diagnosed with at least one disease, illness or medical condition that would, on the balance of probabilities, cause death within a period of 6 months or in the case of a neurodegenerative disease, illness or medical condition, within a period of 12 months.’ The Annual Report also notes that some patients undertaking a First Assessment in the reporting period were also deemed ineligible due to lack of an enduring request for voluntary assisted dying, a lack of decision-making capacity in relation to voluntary assisted dying and/or having been deemed by the Coordinating Practitioner to not be experiencing suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner that the patient considers tolerable. Further, page 21 states that 4 patients found eligible during the First Assessment were then found not eligible during the Consulting Assessment. In reference to the 30 First Assessments and 4 Consulting Assessments that were considered ineligible in the 2021-22 reporting period; I ask:

(a) if a patient cannot ‘progress through the necessarily rigorous stages of assessment’ (Voluntary Assisted Dying Board Western Australia Annual Report 2021-22 at p 3) because they do not meet the eligibility criteria of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019 but they are nonetheless struggling to such an extent that they have sought assistance from a medical practitioner to die, what supports are provided to that person if they are ineligible to access voluntary assisted dying; and

(b) to whom are they referred for care in this instance?