Bereavement Charities

Debate between Rosena Allin-Khan and Geraint Davies

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Westminster Hall

[Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting) (Lab)]

It was approximately six years ago that you sat next to me when I made my maiden speech, Mr Davies, and today is the first time I have had the pleasure of serving under your chairmanship. I thank the hon. Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) for securing this important debate, and all hon. Members for their thoughtful contributions.

People, including us in this place, are growing more comfortable about sharing their own experiences of loss and grief. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for kindly mentioning my professional experience with those needing bereavement support. Last year I had the very painful personal experience of losing my father after a long, protracted, difficult and painful battle with dementia, which came on when he was very young. No one can prepare someone for how they will cope with the loss, and everyone will react incredibly differently. The only sure thing we know is that everyone will go through it at some point.

It is important to remember that everyone deals with loss differently. I threw myself into exercise and relied on a support network of my friends and family. Together, we mourned for the life lost and the experiences we were never able to have. Others require professional help.

I will take this opportunity to thank the palliative, neurological and bereavement support charity Sue Ryder, for the assistance it provides to so many families, and Lottie Tomlinson, who has done so much to break down the stigma that still exists around bereavement. Lottie speaks from the heart about navigating the loss of both her mother and her sister, and the different experiences she had in getting informal support from her family and professional support after the loss of her sister.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to bereavement. Indeed, it is different for everyone, depending on whether they have lost a child or even, in the case of the hon. Member for North Devon, a grandmother—I am so sorry to hear about the hon. Lady’s loss. No amount of comments such as “She had a good innings” can take away from the pain and loss that she feels, because the family had her in their lives for 98 years and that really counts for something. All our love and support go to the hon. Lady’s family at this time.

The pandemic robbed so many families of the opportunity to say a final goodbye. That has had a profound impact on people’s ability to grieve. The mental health impact of that is enormous. Around one in 10 people bereaved will suffer from prolonged grief disorder, resulting in severe mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the report released by Sue Ryder last week, 70% of respondents reported that they could not access the type of support they would have liked after a close bereavement. The most common barriers to accessing support were that it was not culturally specific, or not provided in the recipient’s language. That has to change. There is a postcode lottery on bereavement support, and that should not be the case. Some local authorities do a fantastic job with limited resources, but it should not have to be that way. So much for levelling up if some areas cannot even afford dignity in death.

Bereavement charities and local authorities should not be living hand to mouth when it comes to bereavement support. The Government must have a clear strategy that tackles the social isolation and loneliness that people often experience after a death. It must ensure that all family members are provided with information about bereavement support services in all appropriate languages.

In A&E, where I work, when a patient dies, there is all too often little joined-up working. I know local bereavement organisations and am able to signpost loved ones to them, but not everyone is able to do that. That is where the development of a specific bereavement pathway would be incredibly useful for frontline workers. It could ensure that relatives are given the information that they need at a time of crisis by hospitals, GPs and charity services. That would help healthcare professionals to find the right support for anyone who has experienced a bereavement, and should be supported by a public health campaign to promote awareness of the different services available.

I would again like to thank everyone who has shared their experiences in order to help to tackle the pernicious stigma still associated with bereavement. It is clear that there is a long way to go to ensure that bereavement services get the support they need to support all of our communities at their darkest hour. I urge the Minister to take the comments made today into account. I know that the UK Commission on Bereavement is currently working to analyse and understand all the evidence that it has received, and I look forward to its report this year.

Experiencing the death of a loved one is one of the hardest things a person will go through. Unfortunately, the last couple of years have made that an all too stark reality for too many people. The humanity was stripped out of grieving; it is high time that it was put back.

[Geraint Davies (in the Chair)]

Last but not least, I call the Minister.

Children’s Mental Health

Debate between Rosena Allin-Khan and Geraint Davies

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Allin-Khan]

The hon. Member highlights the point that mental health should not be a political football, which is why we hope that he will support the Opposition’s recommendations. I should be delighted if he sent me his report; I will read it with interest.

It is crucial that when a child comes to A&E or a hospital, doctors and nurses take the time to build trust with them as a patient so that they feel safe talking about their condition, but with waiting lists growing and the staffing crisis deepening, it is becoming all too difficult to find the time to build the trust and respect that every patient needs and deserves. That is the human cost of more than a decade of decline caused by under-resourcing and under-investment in our NHS and by the lack of a proper NHS workforce plan for the future.

The impact on entire families is crushing. Time out of school affects a child’s ability to learn and their later life choices and chances. Parents have to take time off work and sometimes leave their jobs as a result, and siblings are deeply affected. It should be a badge of shame for the Government that three quarters of children were not seen within four weeks of being referred to children’s mental health services.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

No doubt my hon. Friend is aware of the relationship between children’s mental health and air quality. Poor air quality can give rise to anxiety, depression, lesser focus and dementia, as well as mental health problems in unborn foetuses. Does she agree that more needs to be done, particularly in the most diverse and deprived areas where air pollution is worse? It is directly hitting children’s mental health.

[Dr Allin-Khan]

My hon. Friend is right to remind us that adverse childhood experiences and inequalities, including health inequalities, lead to worse mental health outcomes in later life and stop children from achieving their full potential.

Imagine being a mum or dad whose child is self-harming or presenting with symptoms of depression, anxiety or phobia, and being without specialist support for extended periods. We all agree that the pressure that that puts on families and parents is just so crippling. The number of children who needed specialist treatment for severe mental health crises between April 2021 and October 2021 was 77% higher than in the same period in 2019.

This is the UK in 2022. The bar to being seen by a specialist is high, the delays are long and three quarters of children were not seen within four weeks of referral. That time is one of anguish for them and their family. Does the Minister believe that making 369,000 children wait for vital mental health support is acceptable?

According to the latest report by the Children’s Commissioner, waiting times depend on where people live—so much for levelling up—and when they are eventually seen, services may be hundreds of miles away. It is making the situation so much worse. Ask any parent or any young person; they will tell us that the uncertainty and paucity of mental health services damages mental health, exacerbates mental health conditions, allows symptoms to persist and makes conditions harder to treat down the line. Ultimately, it also costs more.