Background We’ve created a unique model of collaboration, working in partnership with statutory child death review teams, emergency departments and intensive care units to ensure families receive bespoke and tailored support when a child dies suddenly and unexpectedly.

Aim We were reaching 1 in 5 families who have a child that dies, because we have focused on providing care to children with life-limiting conditions. We aimed to increase our reach to 2 in 5 families with a focus on sudden and unexpected child death.

Method Collaboration in north-west London, an area of our catchment that experiences the highest number of infant and child deaths, participate in joint agency response meetings to provide a seamless route into our bereavement care.

Results Since the launch, we’ve had 57 families referred to us for this service.

Service numbers data

21/22 Supporting 20% (1 in 5) families of children who died in our catchment.

23/24 Supporting 50% (2.5 in 5).

57 referrals between November 2023 and March 2024.

44 (77%) were sudden and unexpected deaths.

13 (23%) had an underlying condition.

Screening data

40 individuals have completed mental health screening with one or more standardised tool.

We saw a huge increase in safeguarding concerns: 3 parents had made plans to end their life. 14 had thought of hurting themselves. Two reported wanting to hurt someone else. 84% reported feeling panic/terror. 95% had unwanted images/thoughts they couldn’t remove. 95% felt a sense of blame. 45% said they thought it would be better if they were dead.

Conclusion Since launching our new specialist bereavement service, we’ve moved from helping 1 in 5 families to 2.5 in 5, i.e. 20% of child deaths in our catchment to 50% of deaths in our catchment in just 5 months and we’re working on making that higher.