Good Grief café launched to support NHS staff after huge number of deaths in pandemic

By Claudia Lee

A nurse and a psychologist from Guy’s and St Thomas’ have teamed up to launch a Good Grief Café to help NHS community staff talk about their experiences of loss.

The Good Grief Café offers informal and confidential sessions that are co-facilitated by Kate Price, a professional nurse advocate, and Catherine Lacey, a clinical psychologist for staff support at Guy’s and St Thomas’.

During the pandemic NHS staff experienced an unprecedented number of patient deaths and a significant increase in the number of patients receiving palliative care.

Kate said: “Our community nurses often form a major part of a patient and their family’s life, providing care in their homes for many years and end-of-life care.

“Death and dying are often considered ‘part of the job’, and of course this is what many of us working in healthcare will experience, but it’s not uncommon for staff to experience grief following the death of a patient.”

Three neighbourhood nursing teams in Rotherhithe, Bermondsey South and Bermondsey North took part in the Good Grief Café pilot and 91 per cent scored the sessions as ‘useful’ to ‘very useful’ and recommended the café to colleagues.

Cendrig Rodriguez, a neighbourhood nursing development coach, attended the café after experiencing a family bereavement.

He said: “It was a relief to finally talk about something that I had been keeping to myself.

“It’s hard to let go but speaking in that protected environment made me feel comfortable so I could open up – it made me feel heard and valued.”

For more information visit, www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk

Pictured top: Catherine Lacey and Kate Price (Picture: Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital)