In his latest blog on the National Bereavement Care Pathway, Marc brings us up to speed on the work being carried out ahead of the pilot launch of the pathway in just three weeks time on 9 October.

We have had an incredibly busy few weeks coordinating the writing and reviewing process for the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) content. My many, many thanks to the 40 colleagues across the country who have either written, reviewed or edited content for the five pregnancy and baby loss pathways over the past month or so. A particular thank you to those parents on the NBCP Parental Advisory Group who have shared their stories with us in order to inform the NBCP.

Once it has gone through its final review process, the pathway and guidance materials will be made available to the 11 pilot sites ahead of the launch of Wave 1 on 9th October.

 

Next Steps

We are really excited about the launch, whilst also recognising that it will take time for the pathway to bed in and be used across each of the 11 Trusts. Working with our independent evaluation team, we will ensure that learning from the first wave of the pathway is considered when we launch Wave 2 in April 2018.

 

Promoting and Networking the National Bereavement Care Pathway

It’s also been a busy time speaking at various conferences and events to raise awareness of the NBCP.

It was a privilege to speak to 300 health and social care professionals at the joint RCM/Sands/Bliss conference in Birmingham as it was the following evening in Basingstoke at the Southern Area Federation of the National Association of Funeral Directors. Both these events highlighted to me the great passion, compassion and dedication with which professionals support bereaved families up and down the country. The willingness to support and promote the NBCP project was evident at both events, for which I and the Core Group are immensely grateful.

This support was also on show at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss, which met earlier in September, and I am delighted that many MPs will be supporting our Wave 1 launch event, as well as other events during Baby Loss Awareness Week from 9-15 October.

Thanks too for the many emails, #nbcp tweets and encouragements we have received recently; they have been appreciated during a very busy time.

Marc