FOI Ref: 0081FOI2021

5th October 2020 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request for Information

We are pleased to respond to your request for information and our response is set out below:

Request /Response

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act for your Clinical Commissioning Group.  

Our Freedom of Information request centres around the issue of bereavement and seeks to understand the level of support that is offered to bereaved adults commissioned by your CCG.

For all questions please do not include hospice provision within your answers unless you have contracts with hospices to deliver care that is not just restricted to family or friends of hospice patients. We are focused on bereavement support directly funded by the CCG.

If these questions are not relevant because bereavement support in your area are commissioned by another body (e.g. the LA), please indicate that below so that we can contact that organisation.

What we mean by ‘bereavement support’

• counselling services
• emotional support services
• support groups
• peer/one to one support
• telephone, email, online forum support
• Information and advice

We do not mean bereavement services, e.g. burials, cremations, funerals

Funding for bereavement support

1. Did you directly provide any bereavement support at any point in the last three financial years? If yes, please indicate which years.

Sheffield CCG does not directly provide bereavement support services.

2. Did you commission or provide any grant funding to any organisation that provide bereavement support at any point in the last three years? If yes, please indicate which years.

Yes, please see response to Q 5 /7 &9

3. How much money, if any, did you allocate for directly providing bereavement services in each of the last three financial years?

Please see response to Question 6b.

4. How much money, if any, did you allocate for commissioning/grant funding of bereavement services in each of the last three financial years? (Please list grant and contract amounts separately)

Please see response to Question 5 /7 & 9.

5. Are you aware of other organisations/bodies in the area covered by your CCG that commission bereavement services? E.g LA? If yes, please indicate which organisations these are.

The South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System (ICS), which is hosted by Sheffield CCG commissioned bereavement services for all the CCG partners in region in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The delivery of Amparo in Sheffield is funded via the national allocation of transformation funds allocated to the ICS for suicide prevention. We use part of the Sheffield allocation to fund this service as part of a co-commission with the other South Yorkshire areas (not solely Sheffield CCG funding)​. Rotherham CCG is the lead commissioner and holds the contract on our behalf. For further information please contact Rother CCG at FOI@rotherhamccg.nhs.uk.

The initial 8 week pilot of the Listening Ear service across South Yorkshire was also funded via ICS suicide prevention funds. The remaining South Yorkshire areas utilised various pots for their share of the total funding which Rotherham CCG act as the commissioner on all our behalf's. You can visit the listening ear website here: https://listening-ear.co.uk, or alternatively contact Rotherham CCG at the email address above for more information.

In addition the Suicide Prevention Alliances across the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Area have commissioned a post suicide support service for those close to someone who had ended their own life through suicide. For more information please contact the Public Health Department of Sheffield City Council at foi@sheffield.gov.uk.

6. a.) Have you commissioned any additional organisations or provided any additional grant funding to provide bereavement support directly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Please see response to Question 5.

Please include organisations you have existing contracts with but have increased the amount of funding you have given due to the pandemic situation.

b.) If yes, please outline how much money and to how many organisations your CCG has given, and over what time period (e.g. one-year contract, two-year contract)?   

Please contact Rotherham CCG (lead provider) for cost and contract of listening ear.

Bereavement Services

7. Which organisations do you currently financially contract or provide grant funding to, to supply bereavement services?

The CCG does not currently contract or provide grant funding specifically for bereavement support in isolation. For specific bereavement services such as chaplaincy within hospitals please contact Sheffield Teaching Hospitals at sth.foi@nhs.net, Sheffield Children’s Hospital at scn-tr.schfoi@nhs.net and Sheffield Health and Social Care at foi@shsc.nhs.uk.

8. Please can you tell us the number of adults who benefitted from bereavement services in your CCG area in each of the last three financial years? Please include, where possible, an age profile within this.  

Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group does not collect this information.

9. Have you undertaken any mapping or reviews of the availability of both formal and informal bereavement support services available in your area? If you are able, please do include any links to this work.

Sheffield Psychology Board is a multiagency, all age board of Clinical Psychologists, Counsellors and their organisations across the voluntary and statutory sectors, and includes representatives from Sheffield City Council Public Health Department, and Sheffield CCG.  A Bereavement Subgroup was initiated to develop information in relation to bereavement support, and to define the availability of services in Sheffield, as well as to map a strategic approach to bereavement for the city in relation to the pandemic. This is currently ongoing therefore we are unable to share this information at this time.

Should answering this request exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ under the FOI Act please prioritise questions 4, 6 and 7.