A few weeks ago, after years of campaigning, ethical and constitutional quandaries, impassioned speeches, and at times febrile debate, MPs voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

As a supporter of the bill, I was of course deeply disappointed by this. But I do not believe this is the end of the debate. Nor do I believe this result should distract from the urgent need to improve palliative care.

Many of the bill’s opponents cited the dire state of hospice care as a reason for their opposition. I hope that after this vote they channel their energy into ensuring everyone receives the end of life care they deserve.

Andy Burnham has spoken at length about improving social care in our country. He has castigated successive governments for ducking the difficult decisions, asserting there has been a dereliction of public duty on social care.

I wholeheartedly agree but as we know all too well: diagnosing the problem is easy, dealing with it is an entirely different matter.

Our hospices do incredibly work with increasingly scarce resources. Nearly two thirds reported a deficit in 2023-24, according to the National Audit Office.

Many have been forced to cut staff, reduce their bed numbers, and slash community services. Shockingly, just a third of their funding is covered by the government.

What this equates to is a postcode lottery of support, where the quality of palliative care hinges on various factors outside a patient’s control.

With this issue especially, it is easy to lean on figures. All of them are shocking and should force government action. But we cannot lose sight that behind every statistic about the hospice crisis is a patient not receiving the care they deserve.

I heard many stories spelling this out in stark detail. I was minded to vote for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill already after the awful experience of losing my husband to oesophageal cancer in 2003.

But listening to your stories and to GPs, doctors, hospices, patients and charities solidified my position. It also added to my view that we must tackle the palliative care crisis now, starting by giving hospices fair and sustainable funding.

Now that the assisted dying bill has fallen, that task becomes even more pressing. No one with a terminal diagnosis should face poor access to care or support because of where they live. For the time being, it is only by improving palliative care that we can give the terminally ill the dignified death they deserve.