Adult Social Care saw an increase in deaths reported due to the pandemic. As a result of this, reflections have been made on how practitioners manage deaths of the people that they provide a support to and how services end once the person has died.

There are important operational actions that need to be completed once a practitioner has been notified of a death.  These include ending financial elements on Mosaic, ending direct payments to ensure that the deceased families members do not have any additional issues when managing their loved ones affairs.

However it has been highlighted that it is equally as important to try to support the deceased family members during the process of ending services as this could make a very difficult time a little easier to cope with.

Below are a few resources that provide some information for practitioners on not only operational actions that need to be completed once a person dies, but also guidance to ensure the families know where to get extra support when they need it.

The Bereavement / End of Life Guidance for Practitioners has been developed to support practitioners working with vulnerable adults where they may pass away or are coming to the end of their life.

Other helpful resources available include:

• Bereavement FAQs for frontline staff
• The Loss Project - Focuses on giving people the tools to become more open, connected and confident when having conversations regarding loss and bereavement.