The future of many care homes and hospices will be in grave doubt if an assisted suicide/euthanasia bill becomes law in England and Wales, according to the local Catholic hierarchy.

The Bill which is due to be voted on in the House of Commons tomorrow enables terminally ill adults aged 18 or over the right to request medical help to kill themselves.

In a statement, the Bishops said that a right to assisted suicide “is highly likely to become a duty on care homes and hospices to facilitate it. We fear that this Bill will thereby seriously affect the provision of social care and palliative care across the country”.

They added: “Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, but to withdraw from the provision of such care.

“The widespread support which hospices attract from local communities will also be undermined by these demands which, in many cases, will require these institutions to act contrary to their traditional and principled foundations.

Meanwhile, new polling reveals widespread concern that introducing assisted suicide will have a negative impact on disabled people and many will die early as a result.