Senior Sister Ali Griffiths from University Hospitals Plymouth has turned her experience of grief into positive change for bereaved relatives.

Ali and colleagues have worked together to improve the way personal belongings are returned to families after someone has passed away.

As a result, new ‘bereavement bags’ are being rolled out across the hospital and it is hoped other Trusts across the UK will follow suit.

Ali said: ‘This idea was born out of my personal experience of collecting my mum’s belongings. She died very suddenly and unexpectedly under catastrophic circumstances. Her things, including her dressing gown and hairbrush, were presented to me in a carrier bag. When I saw the contents and her hair on the brush, I was overwhelmed. It didn’t feel like a carrier bag was representative of the care and compassion that we give to families here at the Trust.

’Being able to change the way that belongings are handed over, in a more respectful and caring way, means that potentially tens of thousands of other families - during a really difficult time of losing somebody so beloved to them - may have that moment made a little bit easier.’

The new purple bereavement bags resemble dignified gift bags, which have been chosen to represent gifting back personal belongings and the memories associated with them.