Doctors in the UK could be given the right to be able to help terminally-ill people to die, a report has said.

Adults who are likely to have less than a year left to live could be given the chance to ask their doctor for a dose of medication that would end their life, the year-long Commission on Assisted Dying said.

But stringent safeguards must be in place to protect those who might not have the mental capacity to make such a choice, or who might be clinical depressed or experiencing pressure from friends or relatives.

The commission, chaired by former lord chancellor Lord Falconer, said that under their proposals, a terminally-ill person would need to be able to take the medication themselves, as a clear sign their actions were voluntary.

The findings will anger campaigners against a change in the law who have warned that it would risk increasing the pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives out of fear they might become a burden for others. It could lead to around 13,000 deaths a year, the Care not Killing alliance said.

Since new guidelines for prosecutors in assisted suicide cases were brought in February 2010, anyone acting with compassion to help end the life of someone who has decided they cannot go on is unlikely to face criminal charges. But assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in England and Wales, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and individual decisions on prosecution will be made on the circumstances in each case.

The commission called for Parliament to consider developing a new legal framework for assisted dying, saying that the "current legal status of assisted suicide is inadequate, incoherent and should not continue".

Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, insisted the law does not need changing and branded the commission's report "unnecessary, biased and... seriously flawed". He said: "It is being spun as a comprehensive, objective and independent review into this complicated issue. It is anything but."

Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association (BHA), welcomed the report but said it did not go far enough, adding: "If anything, we would have liked to have seen the Commission go further and recommend a greater change in the law to allow both assisted dying and voluntary euthanasia."

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "The Government believes that any change to the law in this emotive and contentious area is an issue of individual conscience and a matter for Parliament to decide rather than Government policy."