The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare Encourages Local Community to Talk about Dying

The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare homes from across the south are encouraging members of the local community to pop in to chat freely about death, funerals and bereavement. The event is part of the Dying Matters Awareness Week (9-15 May 2016), which has been organised by the Dying Matters Coalition to encourage people to talk openly about dying, death and bereavement.

The Dying Matters Awareness Logo ‘ Let’s talk about it’

Throughout the week, The Southern Co-operative funeral homes have an ‘open door’ policy, encouraging members of the local community to pop in for a coffee and the opportunity to ask the Funeral Co-ordinators any questions that they may have about the death process or funerals.

The theme of Dying Matters Awareness Week 2016 is ‘The Big Conversation’, and The Southern Co-operative Funeralcare is encouraging the public to talk to each other about dying, death and bereavement, because “Talking about dying won’t make it happen!”

Every minute someone in the UK dies, but many still do not feel comfortable talking about dying. Talking more openly about dying can help you to make the most of life and to support loved ones.

With an ageing population and people living for longer with life limiting illnesses, discussing dying is increasingly important. If you don’t talk to your loved ones about their wishes you may be risking leaving it too late.

Set up by the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) in 2009, the Dying Matters Coalition aims to encourage people to talk about their own end of life issues with friends, family and loved ones in order to make ‘a good death’ possible for the 500,000 people who die in England each year.

Research for Dying Matters has found that many people have specific wishes about their end of life care or what they would like to happen to them after their death, but a reluctance to discuss these issues makes it much less likely that these will be met. There is a major mismatch between people’s preferences for where they would like to die and their actual place of death: 70% of people would prefer to die at home but around half currently die in hospital.

Claire Henry, Chief Executive of the Dying Matters Coalition and the National Council for Palliative Care said:

“Every minute someone in England dies, but many people still feel uncomfortable talking about end of life issues. Talking about dying, death and bereavement is in everyone’s interests as it can help ensure that all of us can get the care and support we want, where we want it, at the end of our lives.

“Through being more confident in talking about dying, we can make a big difference.”

Find your local Southern Co-operative Funeralcare home here.