New bereavement services at Addenbrooke’s

Work has started at Addenbrooke’s to provide new facilities for bereaved relatives.

A dedicated space is being created near the hospital’s main reception and refurbishment carried out on an existing relatives’ room in the Emergency Department.

The new space, which used to be the switchboard, will create rooms for relatives to meet staff and register deaths and a waiting area away from other people using the hospital. A neighbouring room is also being transformed where a bereavement care follow-up service will be based. The new service allows relatives of patients to meet clinicians to talk through any questions they may have following a death.

Christine Lethbridge, who lives near Hadleigh in Suffolk, has been involved in the design process. Mrs Lethbridge and her family used the bereavement services at Addenbrooke’s following the death of her 22-year-old son, Thomas, in 2007.

She said: “Nothing was ever too much for them. We were always very well looked after and given all the support we needed, so I was happy to help with this project. Dealing with bereavement is a time of great distress which is why it’s important to have these services available in a sensitive environment.”

Keith Morrison, bereavement care follow-up lead, said: “Relatives will have access to a full range of bereavement services in a calm and relaxed setting away from clinical areas. We want to provide the best service we can and these changes will help us do just that.”

The project has been given financial backing and support from the Enhancing the Healing Environment programme, run by The King’s Fund – a charity which seeks to improve health services in England. Funding has also come from Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, the charity for Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie, and fundraising from public and patient governors.

A local artist, Filipa Pereira-Stubbs, has advised on the décor and design of the rooms and commissioned artwork for the various spaces. The rooms are due to be handed over to bereavement services by mid-September, with an official opening planned for later in the year.

Until then, the bereavement service will continue to operate from existing facilities on level two near the lifts to the F and G wards. The new facilities will be named The Perry Suite in memory of Malcolm Perry, a recently deceased governor.