Ms Mary Burke:

No. We discuss symptom management, ask whether everyone was happy about the management of the case and ask whether they want to discuss their feelings and emotions. Some people may have resided in a nursing home for seven or eight years, so staff will have known them very well. The staff may know the residents as well as their own grandparents and may have grown quite attached to them . We all sit down and have tea and cake. Then we discuss the care provided to the person to see if we could have improved their care or done anything better. The meeting gives people an opportunity to vent their feelings and talk. For residents, we have arranged a weekly visit by ministers of the Eucharist with holy communion so that they can pray for the person who has passed away. I also talk to the residents, because some of them may have been very good friends with the deceased and sat beside him or her in the day room on a daily basis. Every November we have an annual mass of remembrance for people who pass away during the year. It is an opportunity for the families to return to the nursing home and meet us again.