In this edition:

The Board's Annual Report for 2024-2025 was tabled in Parliament by the Minister for Health in November 2025 and outlined the considerable and consistent increases in activity in the financial year, with 480 voluntary assisted dying deaths in the period, an increase of 63.8 per cent over the number in 2023-2024. The report also highlighted the Board's concerns about the vulnerability and sustainability of voluntary assisted dying services given there has not been a commensurate increase in practitioner numbers. 

The Board makes recommendations to the Minister for Health for quality improvements to processes and structures to support the provision of voluntary assisted dying services in Western Australia and has made a number of recommendations in relation to workforce participation and support. More detail on the 2024-2025 Annual Report can be found below.

The Board is extremely grateful for the work you do with diligence, care and respect, despite the physical, pyschological and spiritual pressure of the environments in which you work.

Dr Scott Blackwell
Chair - Voluntary Assisted Dying Board

The Annual Report highlighted some key statistics from the 2024-2025 financial year:

Analysis of data from forms received by the Board allowed detailed monitoring of the operation of voluntary assisted dying and enabled the Board to make a number of recommendations to the Minister for Health and Director General of the WA Department of Health to improve the safety and quality of voluntary assisted dying services.

The Annual Report can be downloaded here, and includes a full report on activity for the financial year, recommendations by the Board, and future focus areas.

The Board is thankful to those who have shared their stories and experiences of the voluntary assisted dying process during 2024-2025. The Board received 36 personal reflections in 2024-2025 from patients, families and practitioners. 

75% of reflections included positive remarks regarding the patient and family experience, with submitters particularly expressing gratitude for the option to choose voluntary assisted dying and for the exemplary care provided by care navigators, practitioners, pharmacists and HSP Coordinators. 

‘…Thank you. What a wonderful gift VAD is, making it possible for us all to be by my dad’s side laughing, talking and singing with him till his last moment.… VAD is a gift, an important part of patient care and a valuable option for anyone facing end of life.’
Family member

‘…It’s 90 hours before I pass. I feel at peace with the world in large part due to the caring, sensitive help my wife and family have (and friends) been shown by [practitioner], [Care Navigator], others we have spoken to. I know what is ahead and only wish for the courage and strength shown by those we know from VAD. They are so committed in bringing peace to those in real need – like me. Vocation is not a word used much these days and before my need for their care, I reserved it for ‘angels’ who rendered humanity to others in need…’
Patient

However, in 2024–25 the Board continued to receive reflections detailing barriers for patients accessing voluntary assisted dying as an end of life choice. A number of reflections received by the Board outlined issues regarding access to voluntary assisted dying, including that the low number of trained voluntary assisted dying practitioners has put pressure on and exposed vulnerabilities in the system, and that individual and institutional obstructions to accessing voluntary assisted dying has caused distress and delays to patients in private facilities which impacted their ability to exercise their lawful end of life choice and human right to have their health choices respected.

‘……delays prior to admission at [health facility] add a lot of stress to the process, add time pressure and [patients] often pass away soon after admission. These situations also add immense pressure to our very small workforce of doctors and our limited resources to support them well..’
Health practitioner

‘….We felt [we] were being judged [by staff at a faith-based private hospital]
because … Mum had expressed her wish to access VAD…. It was made clear that VAD could only be given away from the [private] hospital and we were also warned to try to keep this a secret from many of the staff members….’
Family member

The personal reflections received by the Board provided rich and valuable information on how voluntary assisted dying is operating, and directly informed the recommendations made by the Board. 

We encourage you to share the Personal Reflection form with your patients and their families and to consider submitting your own feedback to the Board. We would particularly welcome more reflections relating to patients in regional areas to better understand the experience of voluntary assisted dying in the regions.

Practitioners are able to transfer the administering practitioner role to another VAD trained practitioner if they are unable to continue in the role, or to cover a period of unavailability. The transfer must be recorded by submitting the Administering Practitioner Transfer form via VAD-IMS. The Secretariat Unit is able to assist with this process if you have a high volume of roles to transfer. If the role is to be transferred back to the original practitioner following the unavailable period, the person taking on the role will need to submit the relevant form to the Board to transfer the role back. 

The Act provides that when the administering practitioner role is transferred to another practitioner, the transferring practitioner must inform the patient of the transfer and of the name and contact details of the practitioner who the role is transferred to. This provision also applies when the role is being 
transferred back to the original administering practitioner, even when that information was communicated by the original practitioner. 

Patients must complete the Written Declaration in the presence of 2 eligible witnesses. The witnesses provide independent verification that the Written Declaration was signed freely and voluntarily. To be eligible, the 2 witnesses must be:
- at least 18 years old
- not knowingly a beneficiary of the patient's will or may benefit financially or in any other material way from the death of the patient
- not be a family member of the patient
- not be the coordinating or consulting practitioner for the patient

'Family member' is defined in the Act as including the person’s spouse, de facto partner, parent, sibling, child or grandchild.

The Board recently came across an episode where it became clear after submission of a Contact Person Appointment Form that a witness to the written declaration was the de facto partner of the patient. 

While Written Declarations might be completed without the coordinating practitioner being present, it is best practice to outline the requirements for witnesses to written declarations with the patient, and to check on receipt of the form that both witnesses were eligible.

The Board welcome further submissions of personal reflections from practitioners to share your experience. The Personal Reflection form can be found here and can be emailed to the VAD Board Secretariat Unit (VADBoard@health.wa.gov.au).

Previous editions of the Quality Practice Series can be downloaded from the Resource Hub in VAD-IMS.

This document can be made available in alternative formats on request for a person with disability.

© Department of Health 2026

Copyright to this material is vested in the State of Western Australia unless otherwise indicated. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced or re-used for any purposes whatsoever without written permission of the State of Western Australia

Department of Health Voluntary Assisted Dying Online Resources