Bereavement Services

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 12 March 2019.

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Photo of Lynne Neagle Lynne Neagle Labour 2:08, 12 March 2019

First Minister, the loss of a loved one to suicide is a uniquely devastating bereavement in my view, and yet support services for those bereaved by suicide are practically non-existent in Wales. Organisations like the Jacob Abraham Foundation are doing sterling work supporting families with not a penny of public funding. There is also a pattern I am seeing in my work, on both my committees, of statutory services increasingly looking to third sector organisations to provide services across the board in health and social care, but without stumping up the funding for those organisations involved. I'm aware of the mapping exercise that you've referred to, but that is going to take time. Will the First Minister commit to discussing the particular needs of those bereaved by suicide with the health Minister, with a view to taking urgent action in this area, which is particularly important given that it is a fact that those bereaved by suicide are themselves at much higher risk of dying by suicide?