Finlay became the first Consultant in Palliative Medicine in Wales in 1987. She was President of the
Royal Society of Medicine from 2006 to 2008. She is a professor of
palliative medicine at
Cardiff University School of Medicine, and is consultant at the
Velindre Cancer Centre in
Cardiff. On 28 June 2001, she was made a
life peer as
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, of
Llandaff in the
County of South Glamorgan. In 2003 she proposed a bill to ban smoking in public buildings in Wales, three years before it was eventually implemented. In 2007, Lady Finlay introduced a private members bill seeking to change the current system of organ donation from 'opt in' to 'opt out'. Parliamentary timing did not allow for this bill to proceed but the principle continues to be debated. Two years later she succeeded in changing government policy on organ donation to allow potential organ donors to be able to specify a family member or close friend to whom they wish to donate their organ(s). In March 2010, Baroness Finlay sponsored the Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill as it reached the House of Lords for scrutiny. With just weeks before the forthcoming general election, Baroness Finlay, with Government and Opposition front bench support, took the MP
Julie Morgan's private members bill through its final stages, to
Royal Assent. Baroness Finlay is a co-chair of the
All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group, which brings together parliamentarians committed to tackling
carbon monoxide poisoning. In October 2011, following a six-month inquiry which she chaired, the Group produced a report entitled
Preventing Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, including a number of recommendations for policy and behaviour change. Lady Finlay also chairs the
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well, which promotes palliative care. She is a Vice President of
Marie Curie, Patron of
The Trussell Trust's foodbank network in Wales, and the
Motor Neurone Disease Association. She is also patron of
Student Volunteering Cardiff She was a Founding Fellow of the
Learned Society of Wales and is a Member of its inaugural Council. She is patron of the award-winning charity Students for Kids International Projects (1099804). In 2014 she was appointed as president of the
British Medical Association. In 2017, she was appointed one of two patrons of the
Royal Microscopical Society, the other being fellow member of the House of Lords,
Baroness Brown of Cambridge. In 2020, Finlay served as chairwoman of the Alcohol Harms Commission, which recommended that England establish a minimum unit price for alcohol. In February 2025, Baroness Finlay was appointed as Honorary President of Cardiff Male Choir She is a longstanding opponent of any change in the law on assisted dying. ==Awards==