Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure health and social care staff receive culturally-informed training in bereavement, particularly how to identify those at risk of complex grief disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme has been developed by Health Education England (HEE) to ensure health and social care staff are equipped and well-supported to deliver bereavement care. One of the nine modules in this programme is on bereavement and covers palliative care, sudden death, and childhood bereavement. There are also specific sessions in this programme which provide training on identifying cultural barriers, supporting people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and identifying the risk factors that can impact on the grieving process and affect a carer’s bereavement outcome. NHS England is promoting the uptake of this training programme through its Strategic Clinical Networks.

There are many other e-learning programmes available at HEE’s e-learning platform that deliver more specialised training on bereavement, for example after suicide or baby loss, and on post-traumatic stress disorder.