Case study:

11 May 2010

What to do when someone has died - Advice from Oxfordshire Ambulance Trust

Key points

Oxfordshire ambulance crews have been distributing helpful leaflets to provide advice and support to families immediately after a death.

When an ambulance crew attends a death in the home, they are able to diagnose the death within certain criteria.

The service often deals with expected deaths but also sudden deaths from medical, trauma and sometimes criminal causes. Each ambulance carries copies of the child and adult brochures which they can hand to the parent, relative or carer to offer some immediate support.

The leaflets, entitled What to do when someone has died, cover a range of topics such as what is likely to happen in the event of an unexpected death, post mortems, coroner’s inquests and funeral arrangements.

There are children’s and adult versions of the leaflets.

The leaflets were introduced as part of an update to an existing ‘ROLE’ (Recognition of Life Extinct) policy in the previous Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust and replaced a single photocopied version.

Recent reorganisation of the ambulance service trusts means Oxfordshire is now part of the larger South Central Ambulance Service but to date no SCAS version of the leaflet has been produced, so the OXAMB version continues to be used in Oxfordshire.

There have been some problems in ensuring a supply of leaflets are carried on all appropriate vehicles and issued appropriately.

No formal evaluation of the leaflets has been undertaken but it is planned to review best practice against end of life requirements.

It is also hoped to produce a SCAS-wide document of a similar type in the near future.