A Qualitative Evaluation of the Provision of Bereavement Care Accessed by Service Users Living in a Health and Social Care Trust Area in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Within the health and social care sector in the United Kingdom, the management of death and bereavement has become increasingly challenging. This service evaluation sought to explore the bereavement care offered to individuals living in one Health and Social Care Trust catchment area of Northern Ireland. Qualitative interviews were conducted with key government and voluntary agency staff. The findings indicated that much of the bereavement provision is based on the interest and initiative of individual staff members, with few processes to assess the level of bereavement care needed and those best skilled to provide it. Recommendations are made for a bereavement care strategy that outlines a bereavement needs assessment process, identifying the scope of interventions and protocols for practice.

Integration of health and social care – what can Wales learn … and contribute?

“…Professional initiative is also important. In Northern Ireland, for example, a study on bereavement counselling noted the importance of individual staff initiative, even within an integrated health and social care trust (Montgomery and Campbell, 2012). There appeared to be a relationship between the quality of the service provided and the level of interest of the staff member.…”

Grief and loss in older people residing in nursing homes: (un)detected by nurses and care‐assistants?

“…Nursing staff in nursing homes are increasingly in contact with older people who experience loss, death and grief, but just few studies have attempted to examine specifically the aspects of nursing care that focus on emotional support (Bolton , Freshwater & Stickley ). Grief care mostly stems from the interest and initiative of individual nursing staff, with few procedures in place to assess grief care needs and few nursing staff skilled to provide grief care (Montgomery & Campbell ). This minimal emphasis on loss experiences in old age in current practice can be extended to the scarcity of literature on grief care in nursing homes (Stephen et al .…”