内容摘要：Councillor Sam Bromiley, leader of the Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council, said, "The scheme and its appalling mishandling is symptomatic of the wider problems that has plunged the combined authority into

Councillor Sam Bromiley, leader of the Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council, said, "The scheme and its appalling mishandling is symptomatic of the wider problems that has plunged the combined authority into

The procedure is the same each time - she arrives at the home of the person who has been given approval for Maid and asks if they wish to go ahead with it that day. She says the patients always direct the process and then give her the "heads up and ready to go"."That gives me an honour and a duty and a privilege to be able to help them in those last moments with their family around them, with those who love them around them and to know that they've made that decision thoughtfully, carefully and thoroughly," she adds. If the answer is yes, she opens her medical bag.

Demonstrating to the BBC what happens next, Dr Trouton briefly puts a tourniquet on my arm. She shows me where the needle would be inserted into a vein in the back of my hand to allow an intravenous infusion of lethal drugs.In her medical bag she also has a stethoscope. "Strangely, these days I use it more to determine if someone has no heartbeat rather than if they do," she tells me.Some 96% of Maid provisions are under "track one" where death is "reasonably foreseeable". Dr Trouton says that means patients are on a "trajectory toward death", which might range from someone who has rapidly spreading cancer and only weeks to live or another with Alzheimer's "who might have five to seven years".

The other 4% of Maid deaths come under "track two". These are adults, like April, who are not dying but have suffering which is intolerable to them from a "grievous and irremediable medical condition".That is in stark contrast to Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, which says patients must be expected to die within six months. The Westminster bill would not allow doctors to give a lethal dose – rather patients would have to self-administer the drugs, usually by swallowing them.

Death via intravenous infusion normally takes just a few minutes, as the lethal drugs go straight into the bloodstream, whereas swallowing the drugs means patients usually take around an hour or two to die, but can take considerably longer, although they are usually unconscious after a few minutes.

Dr Trouton told me she regarded the Canadian system as quicker and more effective, as do other Maid providers. "I'm concerned that if some people can't swallow because of their disease process, and if they're not able to take the entire quantity of medication because of breathing difficulties or swallowing difficulties, what will happen?""We recognise the strength of feeling around what has happened and would continue to ask people to avoid speculation both online and in the community which could jeopardise the ongoing proceedings," she said.

The force has asked anyone with information about the case to come forward.Archie York died in the explosion, which ripped through the building at about 00:45 BST.

His aunt, Abbie, described him as a "loving boy, with a cheeky little grin on his face all of the time".His parents and two-month-old brother were taken to hospital following the blast but have since been discharged.