Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to work towards a national standard for a bereavement care pathway.

Wider bereavement support is commissioned locally, in accordance with the needs of the local population. NHS England has developed guidance to support integrated care boards with their duty to commission palliative care services within integrated care systems. This statutory guidance states that commissioners should ensure that there is sufficient access to bereavement services.

Experts from the bereavement sector, such as the National Bereavement Alliance, have also published the Bereavement Support Service Standards which can be found on their website. These standards are voluntary and can be used by services as part of a regular review of their service design and their provision of bereavement services.

All trusts in England are signed up to the National Bereavement Care Pathway for pregnancy or baby loss, which aims to ensure that all bereaved parents are offered equal, high quality, individualised, safe, and sensitive care. The pathway covers a range of baby loss circumstances, including miscarriage, stillbirth, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons, neonatal death, and sudden infant death syndrome.

For bereavement support after suicide, NHS England has commissioned Support After Suicide to help systems develop bereavement support services, including developing core standards.