Family say they were not told, despite clinic’s previous assurances

A GRIEVING mother from West Wales ended her life in secret at a controversial assisted dying clinic in Switzerland — despite the clinic’s alleged promise to inform relatives before carrying out any such procedure.

Anne, 51, travelled to the Pegasos clinic near Basel in January, telling her family she was going on holiday. In reality, she intended to die — a decision her loved ones only discovered after receiving farewell letters posted from Switzerland.

The Pembrokeshire Herald has chosen not to release Anne’s surname in order to respect the family’s privacy.

Pegasos is already under scrutiny after a similar case in 2023, when 47-year-old Alistair Hamilton died without his family’s knowledge. Following that case, the clinic reportedly assured the public that it would always notify next of kin before proceeding with assisted deaths.

But Anne’s family say they were kept in the dark — a claim that has prompted an investigation by Dyfed-Powys Police.

Her brother, John, told ITV News he had received no calls or messages from the clinic, despite Pegasos saying they had tried to reach him.

Anne, who was not terminally ill, is believed to have been suffering from severe depression following the death of her son. In one of her letters, she wrote: “I can’t keep going and get older and older without my son… This was my decision to go to Switzerland and be in peace.”

In another note addressed to her sister Delia, she said: “If you’re reading this, I am no longer here. I have thought about this long and hard and need to find [my son] and ask him some questions.”

Delia said she was left confused and heartbroken, unsure if Anne had truly died. She contacted multiple Swiss clinics before finally hearing back from Pegasos several days later.

In an email, the clinic said: “Anne has chosen to die. She died gently and not alone. I hope her letters help you to accept this. All official papers and her urn will be sent to her brother John.”

Delia told ITV: “Anyone who loses a child probably wants to die and be with them. But with the right help, she could have got through it.”

The Pegasos clinic told ITV News that it does its best to ensure people they assist have informed their families.

A spokesperson said: “According to our protocols, we do the best of our abilities that persons we assist have informed their loved ones of their plans to die. Should we have reason to assume that no information has been provided to close family, we will refrain from proceeding without credible proof that they are aware.”

They added: “We understand that the assisted death of a loved person is a distressing time for the family. We are very sorry if Pegasos’ actions or communications have caused further distress to any affected family member at any time and thoroughly consider all concerns.”

The clinic also emphasised that since its founding in 2019, all its actions have been in accordance with Swiss law.

Assisted dying is legal in Switzerland for people of sound mind, regardless of whether they are terminally ill, provided they are not being coerced.

Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed they are working with the Swiss authorities, who say Anne died on 6 January.

A spokesperson for the force said it could “neither confirm nor deny whether a person is a suspect or person of interest” in the case.

If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, help is available. You can contact Samaritans for free, 24 hours a day, on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org.

THE SENEDD supported plans to introduce inspection ratings for care homes, with service providers set to be required to publish “scores on the doors”.

Care homes and domiciliary services, which support people in their homes, will receive one of four ratings: excellent; good; requires improvement; or requires significant improvement.

Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) has been laying the groundwork for the reforms since 2019, including a pilot of “silent” unpublished ratings over the past two years.

The regulations, which apply to adult and children’s services, come into force on March 31, mandating the publication of inspection ratings within premises and on a provider’s website.

Under the reforms, inspection ratings must be displayed conspicuously in a location accessible to service users and visitors  “without delay” following an inspection report.

The ratings will apply to about 690 care homes and 450 domiciliary support providers in Wales, with the sector facing total one-off costs of £700,000 plus an extra £60,000 a year.

Also according to an impact assessment, Care Inspectorate Wales, which has been given almost £3.4m to date, will face recurring costs of £615,000 a year for additional staff.

Care homes will be able to appeal against a rating in an inspection report and an offence of failure to display an inspection rating will be created, with a £2,500 fixed penalty.

A 12-week consultation on the proposals ended in October and Senedd Members unanimously backed the regulations on March 25.

Social care minister Dawn Bowden told the Senedd: “Inspection ratings matter because people matter and their care and support services matter.”

She added: “Ratings will encourage a culture of continuous improvement in which service providers are encouraged to look beyond compliance and ensure positive outcomes.”

Ms Bowden said ratings will showcase excellence as well as provide clarity for families seeking care and support, enabling them to compare quality and safety at a glance.

CANCER charities joined forces to call for a longer-term national strategy to improve services after 9,000 people waited too long for treatment last year.

Mark Isherwood raised an Audit Wales report which found cancer services have consistently failed to hit a 75% target for patients to start treatment within 62 days.

Mr Isherwood, who chairs the Senedd’s public accounts committee, asked witnesses for their reflections on the issues identified by the auditor general for Wales.

Lowri Griffiths, chair of the Wales Cancer Alliance, a coalition of charities established nearly 20 years ago, said she was saddened and disappointed by the findings.

The director of policy at Tenovus told the committee: “We’ve long held the view that some of the governance arrangements around cancer services, especially since the development of the quality statement, have not been fit for purpose.”

Hannah Buckingham, of Macmillan Cancer Support, a vice-chair of the alliance, said performance against the 62-day target shows the system cannot keep up with demand.

“It isn’t working for far too many people across Wales,” she told the committee, describing the impact of delays in diagnosis as devastating for cancer patients and their families. “Not just on their physical health but their mental and emotional health as well.”

Ms Buckingham said: “In 2024, we saw, for example, 9,000 people across Wales wait too long to start treatment on that 62-day pathway which is just not good enough quite frankly.”

She added that it is distressing for staff not being able to deliver timely care for patients, calling for a strategic approach to tackling workforce shortages.

Ms Buckingham warned of a lack of robust governance mechanisms to enforce, track and evaluate actions in the three-year NHS cancer improvement plan.

Simon Scheeres, a fellow vice-chair of the alliance representing Cancer Research UK, said the report underlined the need for a longer-term, more cohesive strategy, raising concerns about a confusing plethora of quality statements, improvement plans and other initiatives.

Mr Scheeres pointed to Denmark as an example of best practice, with evidence showing countries with long-term cancer plans have seen greater improvements in outcomes.

Warning deprivation has a profound impact in Wales, he told Senedd members that death rates are 50% higher in the most deprived groups compared with the least.

Mr Scheeres said lung cancer is by far the biggest cancer killer in Wales as he raised a life-saving pilot of targeted lung health checks in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board.

Ms Griffiths voiced concerns about the Welsh Government’s response to the Audit Wales recommendation of a national lung screening programme which took “an age”.

She said: “It talks about a decision to deliver – so [the] Welsh Government is not committing to deliver, it’s committed to making a decision to whether or not to deliver.”

Lauren Marks, of Young Lives vs Cancer, described the cancer improvement plan as lacking detail on the specific needs of children and young people.

“Systematically, children and young people are being overlooked in the detail,” she said.

Ms Marks warned the 62-day target, which measures the time between first being suspected of having cancer and starting treatment, does not capture young people’s experiences.

She said the delay that young people experience is between thinking something is wrong and getting their diagnosis, with most attending their GP more times than adults do.

Ms Marks added that children and young people get different types of cancer to adults that are not routinely addressed by screening programmes.

She highlighted travelling to treatment as a big issue for children and young people in Wales who travel longer distances than anywhere else in the UK to access care and support.

Ms Marks put the average cost of travel at £280 a month, with one in ten reporting missing or delaying treatment due to unaffordable transport.

Mr Isherwood, the committee chair who has long campaigned on disability rights, put on record his thanks for the work the charities do during the meeting on March 26.

“Two of my children when they were younger received diagnoses,” he said. “The first one, there wasn’t a referral to yourselves, now you’re in most hospitals…. with the second, it was Young Lives vs Cancer or CLIC Sargent that got my other daughter through, so thank you.”