News

Scottish Bereavement Summit

The report of the Scottish Bereavement Summit has been published. The report draws attention to the difficulties faced by people who are grieving in Scotland, and sets out recommendations of how to address some of the key issues.

Access the full report here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Final Report

A summary version of the report is available here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Summary Report

Who supported the summit?

The Scottish Bereavement Summit took place on 13 October 2022. It was supported by a collaboration of organisations working to improve bereavement support in Scotland, including: Richmond’s Hope; Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief; Held in our Hearts; Accord Hospice; The Haven; Kilbryde Hospice; Independent Age; Macmillan Cancer Support; Brightest Start; Bereavement Charter Group; Cruse Scotland; Team Jak; ARC; Fife Young Carers; Funeral Link; Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care; St Vincent’s Hospice; Sands; St Andrew’s Hospice; Marie Curie; MND Scotland; Ardgowan Hospice; Childhood Bereavement Network; Child Bereavement UK; Faith in Older People; Baby Loss Retreat; Sue Ryder; Scottish Care; IANPC; Whyte Family Trust; The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice; Hospice UK; Alternatives Counselling & Listening Rooms; Sunrise Partnership; St Margaret of Scotland Hospice.

What happened at the Summit?

The Bereavement Summit brought together 136 people who work within the bereavement sector in Scotland. The gathering gave attendees the opportunity to explore how to work together to improve experiences of bereavement in Scotland, focusing on three specific areas:

• Formal bereavement services: how can formal bereavement support services (which provide for example counselling and access to peer support groups) be strengthened and improved?
• Informal bereavement support: what can be done to support communities of all kinds (including workplaces, schools, families and neighbourhoods) to provide better informal support to people who have been bereaved.
• Health and social care staff who experience multiple bereavements: how can staff get the support they need at work.

Recommendations

The Report suggests the following 10 recommendations:

• Improve signposting to available support.
• Increase public awareness, confidence, comfort and skills relating to bereavement issues.
• Ensure strategic direction, accountability and responsibility for improving bereavement support.
• Enable schools and educational institutions to be more supportive of people who are bereaved.
• Address equity/equality issues and improve access to services for people with a range of needs.
• Encourage and support workplaces to be better at supporting bereaved staff.
• Support opportunities for professionals to network, learn and share good practice.
• Improve Bereavement Support for Health and Social Care staff.
• Improve how bereavement services, projects and initiatives are funded.
• Ensure future action is informed by evidence, information and builds on existing work.

Access the full report here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Final Report

A summary version of the report is available here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Summary Report

More information about the Bereavement Summit, including a film of the presentations, is available here: Bereavement Summit outputs.