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Dartford campaigners travelled to Westminster to join TV and radio presenter Jeremy Vine, over 60 MPs and charity representatives as they called for new laws to help the terminally ill.
Representatives of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association and Marie Curie and Dartford MP Gareth Johnson were also among those at Parliament on Wednesday to mark the release of a new parliamentary inquiry report, which deems the current benefits system for dying people ‘not fit for purpose’.
The damning report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Terminal Illness found the current rule - that a person must have a life expectancy of six months or less to get fast access to benefits - is ‘outdated, overly-time consuming and demeaning’
The inquiry heard how terminally ill people and their families face devastating financial hardship and crippling debt, due to problems accessing benefits.
As a result, the report recommends the UK government scraps the ‘six-month rule’ and adopt a new definition of terminal illness, mirroring the recent change in Scotland that allows clinicians to use their own judgement to certify if a person is terminally ill, with no arbitrary time limit.
The inquiry found that the medical profession would support this change.
Dartford resident Rachael Martin-Smith and Stone councillor Kelly Grehan have been campaigning with The MND Association and its local supporters for a change in the law under the ‘Scrap 6 Months’ banner for the last year and were pleased Dartford MP Gareth Johnson took time to join them at the event.
Rachael said: “As an MND Association campaigner I have been raising awareness of the difficulty many terminally ill people face accessing benefits they desperately need for some time. It was a privilege to attend the Parliamentary drop in and heartening to hear the results of the report which add further weight to our call for a change in the law. The drop-in gave us chance to speak to MPs and urge them to take action.”
Kelly added: "I feel passionately that the benefit system should be made as easy as possible for terminally ill people to access and, unfortunately the current system does the opposite and causes stress and anxiety at a time when people have enough to worry about. As representatives for different political parties it was really nice that Gareth Johnson and I were in agreement on this issue.
"It was also really lovely to spend time with the charity volunteers and hear about their experiences."
People can help change the law by signing the ‘scrap6months’ petition, which will be handed in to the new Prime Minister at No.10 Downing Street in early August.
