Event details
Families are contacted by a Family Liaison Officer from the NHS at one of the most vulnerable moments people are likely to experience – following an unexpected and traumatic death. Families, often overwhelmed by grief, face arranging the funeral, an NHS investigation, a Coroner’s Inquest – processes that are unfamiliar, confusing and often alarming. Families describing these processes talk about feeling lost, frightened, confused, faced with trying to ask questions to systems they don’t understand. The Family Liaison Officer can offer support, information, understanding, signposting and consensual referrals to other sources of help. But not all Trusts employ them and it is not always clear how their insights help Trusts learn and improve.
The session will explore:
- The role of Family Liaison Officers? – A national perspective
- The difference between a Family Liaison Officer working in the NHS and in the Police
- How families experience Family Liaison Officers
- How we hope this role will develop