7 Offering to closing the loop: harvesting feedback from family bereavement surveys and promoting healthcare staff learning

<h3>Background</h3> Recent data outlines how the most common place of death for people in the UK is hospital (43.4%) and whilst lower than in previous years, 6.2% of people who died had 3 or more emergency admissions to hospital in their last 90 days of life (Department of Health &amp; Social Care, 2024). Key performance indicators for hospital use at the end of life should consider what arrangements they have for ensuring high quality palliative and EoLc for the person, including care after death, for those important to them and for bereavement. As part of their EoLc care strategy, a large acute East London Hospital, sends out a bereavement survey to help understand the experiences of hospital end-of-life care. The surveys returned offer insight into how relatives/carers cope after someone dies but also unanswered questions that can maintain distress following loss. <h3>Method</h3> Hospital bereavement surveys (approximately 10% response rate) are reviewed by the patient experience and engagement team, an education facilitator and a palliative care clinical psychologist. Discovery telephone calls are arranged if relatives request to speak to someone with regards to their experience. Following story gathering, learning is harvested which is then fed back to the treating ward teams. <h3>Results</h3> Discovery phone calls aim to provide a compassionate approach to hearing experience. Information and resources are shared with the relative/carer. In turn, information gathered from conversations helps to create resources for ward teams; offer staff support; select specific themes for areas (e.g. ITU, surgery) and tailor education. Feedback gathered can also help in closing the loop for both families and staff e.g. ‘I always wanted to know why they did that’. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Future plans to coordinate joint initiatives between EoLc education and psychology as well as developing bereavement pathways are discussed.