Make Your Pledge To Our Campaign

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white rose Conference

focused on Bereavement care, mental wellbeing, and suicide prevention

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Our Shared Responsibility

Improving bereavement care in Wales is not just a professional duty — it is a shared community responsibility. We must act now.

Our campaign already has the backing of many charities, faith organisations, and community groups that have signed this pledge — united in the belief that dignity, equity, and compassion must be at the heart of bereavement care.

At White Rose Funerals & Memorials, we take your voices and needs directly to platforms where we are active — including the Senedd / Welsh Parliament — to drive momentum for change. At our 2024 conference, the Senior Coroners of Cardiff and the Vale publicly emphasised the urgent need for a public mortuary with digital MRI facilities to improve efficiency, uphold dignity, and reduce delays. This is not just about infrastructure — it is about ensuring that every family in Wales can say goodbye to their loved ones in a timely, respectful, and compassionate way.

For many faith families, same-day or next-day burials and cremations are a necessity. Yet, while local private crematoria may offer this service at higher cost, council-run facilities currently do not — leaving many families without affordable
options when time is of the essence.

We know change is possible. In Swansea, a dedicated NHS-linked bereavement centre and death aftercare service helps funeral directors and families with end-of-life care, paperwork, housing, benefits, probate, and emotional recovery. Cardiff currently lacks such a service — a gap that must be filled if our communities are to receive the support they deserve.

Moreover, suicide is a critical factor here. In the UK, suicide remains the leading cause of death for people under 35, with 7,055 deaths registered in 2023 across the UK, including 6,069 in England and Wales alone — the highest number since 1999. This context underscores the urgency for robust suicide intervention, bereavement support, and community resilience.

Our Three Core Pillars of Change

Make suicide prevention training mandatory for funeral directors, teachers, NHS front-line staff, and emergency responders.

Leverage charity funding to minimise government expenses while expanding reach.

Develop a national suicide prevention framework with training standards and outcome reporting.

Launch public awareness campaigns to destigmatise mental health and bereavement — especially post-suicide.

Establish rapid referral pathways from trained professionals to crisis and long-term mental health services.

Why it matters:

Suicide remains the leading cause of death under 35 in the UK, with over 7,000 deaths in 2023, including nearly 6,000 in England and Wales alone — the highest number since 1999

Front-line professionals like funeral directors, teachers, NHS staff, and first responders are often the first to notice distress but lack training.

National accreditation exists, but uptake is fragmented and underutilised.

Early recognition and compassionate intervention saves lives and supports families through traumatic loss

A unified national programme fosters community resilience and collective responsibility
Why it matters:

Persistent delays in burials and cremations, due to storage and examiner service constraints.

Funeral directors rely on hospital mortuaries for extended periods, stressing coroners and NHS facilities.

Average funeral arrangements now span 4 weeks, intensifying grief and disrupting cultural rituals.

Diminishing forensic capacity risks increasing case outsourcing to England — heightening cost, delay, and stress.

Local cemeteries, such as those in Cardiff, offer “at-need” graves for Muslim families—this could be expanded to include stock graves. Additionally, same-day and next-day cremations must be integrated into public provision to meet urgent community needs.

Facility design & financial considerations:

A modular mortuary — like those from Elite Systems GB — could offer a cost-effective, flexible solution. These facilities:

Respect HBN (Health Building Note) and HTM (Health Technical Memorandum) standards.

Support integration of digital MRI/CT scanning, refrigerated storage, viewing rooms, and ergonomic design for staff.

Offer fast construction, sustainability (solar panels, green roofs), and customisation to fit existing estate footprints.

Estimated build components:

Component Approximate Spec Details

Building footprint ~500–800 m2 (including storage, MRI suite, viewing & admin areas).

Refrigerated storage units Capacity for 10–20 bodies.

Digital MRI/CT suite Lead-lined enclosure, HVAC ventilation, operator area.

Staff & admin areas Secure offices, workspaces, utilities.

Family viewing rooms 1–2 quiet, dignified spaces.

Sustainability features Solar panels, green roofing, A-rated energy.

Access infrastructure such as secure loading bays, parking, service doors.

Cost estimate (indicative):

Comparable modular mortuary projects in the UK are estimated between £3 million and £7 million, depending on finishes, scanning equipment, and sustainability measures.

Potential to generate income:

Cardiff and Newport’s Senior Coroners have already expressed willingness to share a regional public mortuary — increasing efficiency and reducing duplication.

A shared model also offers clear income opportunities:

MRI scans in place of invasive postmortems — Many Welsh families currently use Oxford University for postmortem MRI scans at an average charge of £500 per case. A Cardiff–Newport facility could retain this income locally.

Cross-border referrals — Families from other parts of Wales or neighbouring regions in England could access services, bringing additional revenue.

Partnership services — The facility could contract with funeral directors for storage, rapid-release postmortems, and urgent cremation/burial support.

This model ensures not only dignity and efficiency but also financial sustainability for the councils involved.

What needs to be done:

Secure Welsh Government funding for a public mortuary in Cardiff with digital MRI scanning.

Develop the site into a bereavement centre offering emotional and practical support (benefits, probate, housing)

Establish an NHS Death Aftercare Service in Cardiff, based on the Swansea model.

Enact legally binding standards for maximum mortuary holding times.

Build a workforce plan to address Wales’s shortage of forensic pathology specialists.

Create urgent burial/cremation schemes in council-run facilities with subsidies for low-income families

Establish council–private crematoria partnerships to offer reduced-rate urgent cremations
Why it matters:

Deaf individuals, ethnic minorities, and those with language or literacy barriers often face delays or exclusion.

Rural and underserved areas suffer from inconsistent bereavement support.

Cultural insensitivity by providers can alienate families during grief.

Delayed or inappropriate support raises risks of complicated grief, depression, and suicide.

Broken trust in services means families may avoid seeking help in future crises

What needs to be done:

Provide interpreter services, culturally sensitive counselling, and multilingual materials throughout Wales.

Fund cultural competence training for bereavement professionals, coroners’ staff,
and registrars.

Create Bereavement Liaison Officer roles in each health board to bridge hospitals, registrars, funeral directors, and community services.

Standardise bereavement pathways for equal access regardless of postcode

Launch a national bereavement care charter with measurable equality and inclusion
targets

Expand digital and remote bereavement services to support rural and mobility-restricted communities

Making Training a Legal Requirement

The Welsh Government already funds many charities to deliver training in suicide intervention, bereavement care, and British Sign Language (BSL). These organisations have the expertise, infrastructure, and community trust — but many
struggle for sustainable funding.

By making it a legal requirement for certain professionals — such as funeral directors, teachers, NHS front-line staff, and emergency responders — to complete accredited training in these areas, we can:

Solve urgent public health and bereavement care challenges
Ensure consistent, nationwide standards of care
Create a sustainable revenue stream for existing charities delivering training, protecting jobs and ensuring their long-term survival

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White Rose Funerals — where compassion meets change