The Government reports on the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic failed to include the voices of those hit hardest, the bereaved families who lost loved ones to the virus. In a report released by the University of Liverpool, the stories of 28 people who lost 30 relatives are put at the forefront, with the aim of investigating the lived experiences of families bereaved by Covid-19.
The report, led by the University of Liverpool Management School’s Professor Lynn Sudbury-Riley and Dr Benito Giordano, collected audio narratives of the experiences of the bereaved throughout May and June 2021. All the participant’s stories started at the point at which their relative became ill, up to the present day. Thematic analysis was used to identify shared themes across their stories.
The findings were extensive, falling into 11 interrelated themes. These themes, including ‘Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) and Critical Care Decisions, ‘Poor Communications’ and ‘Slow Responses by many people in authority’, form the basis of recommendations to the Government in response to these reoccurring issues.
The report has been backed and greatly praised by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, and has been handed to Gillian Keegan, the Minister for Care and Mental Health. Co-author, Lynn Sudbury-Riley, encountered the group after losing her father to Covid-19, when he contracted the virus in hospital after being there for foot surgery. With her research specialism in palliative and end of life care services, hearing the experiences of those in the group, alongside her own, drove her to examine these stories from a research perspective.
The report has already been submitted to several different Government bodies and was included in the Terms of Reference Consultation with Baroness Hallett, one of the first sessions of the Covid Inquiry.
The University of Liverpool’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences has funded a film to accompany the report, and hears from the report’s authors and participants, Fran Hall from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, and Broudie Jackson Canter’s Elkan Abrahamson. The film is a moving insight into what is covered throughout the report, telling the harrowing stories of the bereaved families involved and highlighting the importance of further inquiries and research to help provide closure to those who lost their loved ones.