Outcome measures
Aim to ensure the Board and all units and services regularly assess the quality and consistency of their bereavement care and act to improve the experiences of all women and partners.
Women and partners tell us consistent, high quality care matters throughout their bereavement journey and poor experiences undermine confidence in other staff.
What do we need to do?
Outcome 1 Leadership and listening are effective
- Identify who is responsible for the quality and consistency of bereavement care at a unit, service and Board level.
- Ensure multiple channels are available for women, partners and families to give
feedback on each stage of their bereavement care, including via conversations at discharge and follow up appointments, contact with the service’s or Board’s feedback service, and external channels such as Care Opinion. - Check feedback is actively sought – prompt women, partners and families to think about points they want to raise before they attend follow up appointments.
- Ensure feedback is recorded, shared and responded to.
- Ensure all staff who come into contact with women and partners who experience
miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy are aware of and understand their role in the National Bereavement Care Pathway. - Enable and support staff to give feedback on providing bereavement care for example via team meetings and debriefs.
- Ensure all staff in direct contact with women and partners experiencing miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy loss have access to communication training.
Outcome 2 Improvement measures are in place
- Carry out a baseline assessment of quality and consistency at each stage of bereavement care in your unit, service or Board.
- Review evidence from all channels for listening to feedback from women, partners and families, on all stages of their bereavement care, at least once a year.
- Review recorded data to establish the quality and consistency of:
- continuity of care
- key contacts
- bereavement discussions including marking loss and memory making
- discharge planning.
- Review how frequently units and services provide resources for memory making such as scan images.
- Review how effectively units, services and Boards are engaging with local support organisations.
How will we know we have achieved our aim?
Staff will say they feel confident they are working in a supportive environment and can openly express their own needs with colleagues and senior staff.