Bereaved should be allowed to form ‘bubbles’, says charity

GRIEVING relatives should be allowed to form “bereavement bubbles”, a charity has said.

Sue Ryder, a palliative neurological and bereavement support charity, said that enabling people who have lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic to come together would help them feel less isolated during future lockdowns.

New research published by the charity has found that 62 per cent of people bereaved since the end of March felt secluded and alone when grieving, while 59 per cent believed they had been forgotten about.

The survey of 503 adults also found that 62 per cent of them felt the nation had become “desensitised to death”, with 55 per cent believing the loss of their friends or relatives had been dismissed as “just a statistic”. Currently adults living alone can form a support bubble with another household without needing to follow social distancing rules.

Carolyn Harris, MP for Swansea East, backed the idea in a letter to Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary.

She said: “For many people who have been bereaved since lockdown began, this has been an incredibly isolating time. The ability to form a bereavement support bubble without the need for social distancing, as single adult households are currently able to do, could make a huge impact for someone who is grieving.”

Sue Ryder has seen a spike in demand for its bereavement support services, including online video counselling and an online community forum.

Chief executive Heidi Travis said: “So many people have been unable to say goodbye to those who have died. They have then had to grieve in isolation, without the physical presence or touch of those close to them.”