Understanding people’s experiences of bereavement support in Blackburn with Darwen

Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen undertook research with residents to understand how they were coping with bereavement and what support they felt would be beneficial.  This followed on from their 2023 research on people's views of dying well.  They undertook a survey and focus groups, reaching 700 people.

The majority of residents who responded to the survey and who took part in the focus groups did not know where to access bereavement support and had not accessed it. People felt that there was little information about what services are currently available and there was little signposting by agencies of residents to this support. Overall, the feeling from residents was that the current provision in the borough was not sufficient to meet the needs of people experiencing grief at the loss of a loved one. 

People felt that any future support offer should be tailored to the individual but should include a mix of both in person and online and 1:1 support and group support. Most people felt that this support offer should be offered somewhere close to home and other suggested locations were the GP surgery/health centre and at people’s homes. The ‘at home’ offer was particularly suggested for Muslim women who cannot leave the house for several months following the death of their husband. Most respondents would want to access pre-bereavement support including financial planning and emotional support but have not been able to access this. 

Over half of the survey respondents and all of the focus groups felt that bereavement cafes would be beneficial for residents of Blackburn with Darwen and felt that these should be a mix of both professional and peer support. 103 residents left their contact details in their survey response with an interest in developing local bereavement cafes and several of the focus groups suggested the venues they access as appropriate locations for the cafes.