GPs and Bereavement – survey and findings

Donal Gallagher – Bereavement Development Programme Manager

Sridevi Singh – End of Life Care Project Officer

01/06/2015

Purpose

The survey was created to help Macmillan’s End of Life Care Team gain a deeper insight in to what is currently happening well or otherwise in primary care in relation to bereavement support

The aim of this presentation is to share with you a high level summary of the results and what the future plans are as a result of the survey.

N.B

Please note that there is further information in the notes section beneath some of the slides

Why did we ask Macmillan GPs to complete a survey?

The End of Life Care team believe that GPs  have a potentially pivotal role in identifying, acknowledging, supporting, assessing and referring on those who are bereaved.

To gain a deeper insight in to what is currently happening well or otherwise in primary care, we created a short survey. Our Macmillan GP Advisors provided some feedback on the content and layout and we then sent it to all Macmillan GPs and GPAs.

Executive SummaryWe collated the 70 responses (34% response rate) summarised in the following slides and bullet points.•62.3% have a system in place at their practice to identify the bereaved

•Most were not aware of any good practice regarding identifying the bereaved in their local area

•60.7% have a system in place at their practice to acknowledge someone is bereaved

•The vast majority (85.1%) of respondents said they did not have a way of assessing the level of need of bereaved they are in contact with.

•73% of those who answered the question had not received any specific bereavement training.

Does your practice have a system in place for identifying that someone is recently bereaved?

The next few slides shows some of the GP responses

Are you aware of any good practice in your local area in identifying that some one is bereaved?

Are there any protocols or systems in place to acknowledge someone is bereaved in your practice?*

Do you have a system in place for assessing the level of need of someone who is bereaved?

8 said Yes

1 person said

they don't know52

saidNo

What information or service is available at your practice for the bereaved?

42 of 61 (68.9%) mentioned that they did have information or services available at their practice for the bereaved*

Do you have any local services you can refer someone to for bereavement support?

In terms of referring to local bereavement support 54 of 61 (88.5%) mentioned that they have similar services in their local area as within the practice .

However it was continuously noted that these services often have very long

waiting times.

When asked if they received any specific training to provide support to the bereaved their response was...

15 said that they had

41 said that they had not

Communication training in loss and grief

Years of being a GP

One hour training at a hospice

Child bereavement training session

Dying Matters course - "having the difficult consultation"

Being part of a Bereavement Alliance

Macmillan weekend (20 years ago)

Some of the training included....

If you feel you can provide a level of bereavement support yourself, please rate the following as to how confident you feel in supporting the following groups

Children and teenagers

AdultsOlder

people All

1 - Not confident

27 1 1 2

2 - Fairly confident

23 22 18 19

3 - Confident 5 25 30 15

4 - Very confident

1 8 7 2

Did they think that bereavement care and support is prioritised within their local CCG/ Health Board/ Trust?*

36/61No

The information below shows how the GPs felt Macmillan could help to promote or prioritise bereavement care in their practice or area (these may include best practice (commissioning) guidance, particular Macmillan bereavement resources or relevant national services):

Your practice Your areaTotal Respondents

Yes 81%42

88%46 52

No 71%5

57%4 7

Don't know 73%8

82%9 11

8/61 Yes

Next steps (1)

•Share survey summary with Macmillan GP community

•Produce a summary of existing Macmillan resources (online etc) and share with GP community

•Find ways to help share good practice beyond Macmillan GP community

•Explore with Macmillan GPA end of life care group what tools might be useful to support those working in primary care assess bereavement risk and need.

•Consider what learning and development might be helpful for those working in primary care, in relation to bereavement

Next steps (2)

•Work closely to align this work with Macmillan’s carers’ work and initiatives

•Consider suggestion about commissioning guidance within overall bereavement plan

•Share examples of bereavement protocols with GP community

•Keep Macmillan GP community involved with and informed of development of bereavement plans and strategy