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Survey of bereavement care and other support services
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Document type:Publication
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Author:Department of Health
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Published date:19 July 2005
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Primary audience:Professionals
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Publication format:Electronic only
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Gateway reference:2005
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Copyright holder:Crown copyright
In 2001, the Department of Health carried out a detailed survey to ascertain the level of bereavement services being provided in NHS Trusts. The current survey builds on that information and focuses on looking at the extent of bereavement services, how they are staffed and how they fit into the overall provision of service across a Trust. All of this work contributes to the continuing work of the Department to help NHS Trusts develop bereavement services in line with the CMO's recommendations on the retention of organs and tissues following post mortem examination.
Key messages from 2001 survey
- All Trusts provide some support to the bereaved in some form but the extent varies;
- More training in basic bereavement awareness and communication skills desirable;
- Need seen for national 'guidelines' on provision of bereavement services.
Key messages from 2005 survey
- Over half of Trusts responding have a bereavement service in place with at least one member of staff and one dedicated room for the service. 12% of Trusts have a Specialist Bereavement Centre.
- Most Trusts now provide written information of some sort eg to signpost other services in the voluntary sector/wider community.
- Training is now provided in the majority of Trusts but the form and who receives it varies widely.
- One third of Trusts with a bereavement service in place deal with consent issues around organ donation or post mortem.
- Two thirds of Trusts provide one to one support and formal counselling for staff. Roughly half of Trusts provide one to one support for bereaved people and one third provide formal counselling for bereaved people.
- Although not widespread, a number of Trusts operate bereavement forum, groups or committees, some being multi-agency.
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