3. Will the Minister provide an update on the review of bereavement services in Wales? OAQ53956

Yes. Thank you for the question. The bereavement scoping study that I've previously committed to is making progress. Over 200 responses have been received and the data collection period has been extended until the end of this month. An interim study report will be provided to the end-of-life care board later this month, and the final report is expected in October of this year.  

Minister, you're well aware of my concern that there is a lack of support for people bereaved by suicide in Wales. This matters not just because suicide is a uniquely devastating loss, and that it's the right thing to do, but also because we know that those bereaved by suicide are much more likely to die by suicide. So, support for those bereaved is in itself suicide prevention. The health committee's report 'Everybody’s Business: A report on suicide prevention in Wales' made very clear recommendations about suicide bereavement. How will you ensure that the review you have commissioned will take into account the needs of those bereaved by suicide, including listening to lived experience? And what steps will you take to ensure that a proper postvention pathway for suicide, as recommended by health committee and Professor Ann John in her review of 'Talk to me 2', will be properly resourced and developed as a matter of urgency? 

I want to reassure the Member that I do take the issue seriously, and I recognise exactly what she says about the likely risks of people dying by suicide in the future if they are bereaved by suicide in the first place, and I do take that very seriously. I want to move as quickly as we possibly can. We have choices to make about not just what the data, the evidence and submissions tell us about the support we should provide, but whether we have a national system, because that would probably mean a national organisation like Samaritans or Cruse Bereavement Care, for example, providing, potentially, a service, or whether we have, potentially, national standards where there can be local or regional delivery, because there are much smaller and more distinct groups that provide a service at present. We need to think about what sort of model we want and what sort of service we then want to be able to provide. But, for me, it is essential to listen to people who have lived experience and people who are already providing bereavement support. And I'm happy to reconfirm that Professor Ann John is absolutely part of the consideration of the comments on what we should do next. So, it is a matter of what we do, not if we do something, and I recognise that the Member will continue to ask questions until we're in a position of not just making a choice but to see a real difference having been made. 

Minister, one thing that impressed me, when I was health spokesperson for the Conservative group, around bereavement support was when I visited Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham—a wonderful hospice, I would say, that offers great support to individuals in the last weeks and days of their life. And at that particular time, they had a specific project to support young people affected by bereavement. And very often, the youngsters, the children, that are left behind—'overlooked' is the wrong word, but the systems that are in place tend to not respond to their needs. What work has your department undertaken with the Minister for Education's department to make sure that there is the crossover from health and education in providing those bereavement services? And will the review that you have outlined be looking specifically at support that is afforded to young people who are affected by bereavement?

I'm happy to go and look properly at the issue that the Member raised. I've visited the Nightingale hospice myself, and I recognise the comments that the Member makes about their work and, indeed, other significant parts of the hospice movement here in Wales. So, I'm interested in understanding not just the work that they do, but how any strategy—and, of course, the Minister for Education is due to publish a further guidance about suicide bereavement support for schools, for children and young people—uses an understanding of the lived experience of those children and young people to further improve our service. I'm happy to write, not just to the Member, but also to make sure that the committee is kept up to date, when, of course, I and the education Minister are due to attend in a few weeks' time.FootnoteLink FootnoteLink

Information further to Plenary

Information further to Plenary