IMPROVED support for “people bereaved because of this of Covid-19” was the topic of a brief debate called by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, within the House of Lords last week.
“In our nation’s living memory, there has not been a moment during which so lots of us have experienced bereavement at the identical time. Over the course of 2020 and 2021 alone, there have been a further 750,000 deaths over what would ordinarily be expected based on the previous five-year period. By the top of 2022, an estimated 16,700 children and young people within the UK had been bereaved of their parent or a primary caregiver through the deaths related to the pandemic.”
Bishop Mullally recalled how, on 9 March, the national Covid-19 Day of Reflection, “sobbing could possibly be heard on the National Covid Memorial Wall”. She hoped to “discuss the actual disruption to bereavement throughout the pandemic and the long-term impacts of restricted bereavement”.
Funerals had been a specific issue. “Many religious and ethnic-minority groups faced more significant barriers to organising funerals. Many people reported that finding funeral directors or bereavement organisations with culturally appropriate funeral services was difficult, and that not with the ability to take part in usual rituals prevented them grieving properly.”
She was equally concerned that access to “a meaningful and inexpensive funeral” was a challenge for a lot of, and that “people’s ability to access the funeral that they could like is financially determined.”
Furthermore, a “significant a part of the bereavement process for a lot of is being with family and friends to support each other in grief, but 74 per cent of adults who were bereaved throughout the pandemic said that they experienced social isolation and loneliness after the death of a loved one.”
After recommendations from the UK Commission on Bereavement, which she had chaired, Bishop Mullally praised “much progress which we will commend”, but in addition sought “a cross-departmental strategy for bereavement. . . Its surrounding issues are multifaceted and in need of cross-government working. A method could possibly be a useful technique to give this issue the eye it deserves.
“Some communities experienced much heavier loss than others throughout the pandemic, especially in London. . . This may mean that some communities are more adversely affected by symptoms of prolonged grief than others, which, in fact, results in poor mental health. . . It seems that everybody, when asked, agrees that it’s healthy and good for us as a society to speak about death. However, we’re still poor at doing it.
“My own experiences as a cancer nurse and as a priest mean that I actually have sat with people in the ultimate hours of their lives and with people coming to terms with the lack of a loved one. To grieve is a universal experience and a part of what it’s to be human. My faith prompts me to imagine that our feelings and relationships, and the grief that comes after we lose anyone vital to us, are vital. These experiences and emotions have to be tended to. It is the role of us all, including the State, to accomplish that.”
Baroness Brinton (Liberal Democrat) thanked the Bishop for “this vital topical debate, and on her excellent introduction to the very big selection of issues contained in it”. She, too, was concerned about funeral costs, openness to mourning, the “role of leaders of religions and belief”, and kids.
Lord Kamall (Conservative) expressed condolences to all who had suffered loss through the pandemic. He asked the Government how “bereavement education” could possibly be improved in schools, as in society at large.
The debate had been “vital and touching”, Baroness Merron (Labour) said on behalf of the Government. She offered the peace of mind that it was “searching for the most effective ways to support those in grief, including those bereaved because of this of Covid-19”, and felt it “incumbent on us to look to make further progress on bereavement-support services”.
