Telephone follow-up of relatives after sudden death: a survey of relatives' views

The report of the Working Group on Bereavement Care in A&E departments recommended both the provision of follow-up for relatives and the audit of bereavement care as examples of good practice. In our adult A&E department follow-up contact is made by support workers, who have often been involved with the family at the time of death, making telephone contact four to five days later. This paper describes the role of the support workers and the results of a questionnaire sent to relatives to seek their views on this telephone follow up. In a six-month period 98 families had relatives who died in A&E; 38 (39%) of them returned completed questionnaires. The telephone call was thought to be helpful by 37 (97%) of the respondents. The commonest reasons given were: 'It showed you cared' (95%) and 'It enabled me to ask questions' (46%). We have found that the experience and, more importantly, availability of the support workers allows a level of consistency and continuity in follow-up care which can otherwise be difficult to achieve.