Bereavement Officer

Job description

Job responsibilities

To provide a high quality co-ordinated and professional bereavement service, working closely with relatives of deceased patients, a wide range of healthcare professionals and external stakeholders, dealing with competing demands in a calm and professional manner.

To maintain accurate records of all deaths in hospital and Emergency Departments (Adult, Child & Babies) using the Bereavement Offices Teams Spreadsheet.

To inform the deceased patients GP as soon as possible of their death using the GP Death Notification app to provide a standard letters.

To be a point of contact and source of advice for the bereaved, funeral directors, mortuary staff, hospital staff and coroner and registration services, delivering information in a calm, clear and precise way.

To provide detailed information for bereaved relatives on the practical procedures involved with death registration and to advise on community support where necessary, responding appropriately and sensitively to a diverse group at a difficult time in their lives

To offer advice and information to the bereaved with respect to funeral arrangements/repatriation appropriately.

To accurately record details of the next of kin/person who will be acting as informant when the death is registered.

To liaise with the doctor/s in order to ensure that the Medical Certificate may be issued, or that the case is referred to the Coroner in a timely manner.

To support the collation and preparation of documentation in preparation for review by the Medical Examiner Service.

To be conversant with the types of deaths required by law to be reported to the Coroners Office, ensuring that all documentation is made available when required.

To update files and hospital system in relation to a patients death, recording the finalised cause of death as part of the process to generate a 2nd letter to the GP providing the cause of death.

To work collaboratively with all departments and other external agencies to ensure arrangements for those with faith requirements take place in a timely way.

To work in close collaboration with local transplantation service and anatomy school in relation to requests for tissue donation and body donation.

To facilitate arrangements for the bereaved to view the deceased in the Chapel of Rest/Viewing Room when requested and to also accompany them to the viewing.

To arrange adult contract funerals for patients with no next of kin or the means to pay, liaising with families, relatives, Chaplains, Estate research firms and Contract funeral directors.

To arrange baby contract funerals including still born and young babies and non-viable foetuses, liaising with Chaplains and Contract funeral directors.

To be conversant with the necessary documentation required to release bodies from the Mortuary to the funeral directors.

To be responsible for the general administrative functions of the Bereavement office, including effective and efficient use of IT systems.

To work collaboratively with other Trust departments including Mortuary, Safeguarding, PALS, and Complaints service to ensure timely access to required information and medical records.

To undertake appropriate training to enhance skills where required for continued delivery of the service role as a Bereavement Officer.

To support the Bereavement Lead to provide education to staff and other groups about the bereavement service as required.

To support the Bereavement Lead with service development projects as appropriate.

Maintain an awareness of the diverse needs of the deceased and the bereaved to ensure equality to any particular group defined by sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.

Any other duties of comparable responsibility related to the role.

To ensure that all duties described above are carried out in accordance with office procedures and in a timely and efficient manner.

Person Specification

Skills

Essential

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Good planning and organisational skills, including high level of accuracy, under pressure and ability to work to strict deadlines
• Ability to liaise effectively and professionally in person and on the telephone with a range of people
• Ability to juggle conflicting demands, prioritise tasks
• One year's previous experience of Office Administration
• Computer/word processing skills/databases (e.g word, excel, Microsoft office)
• Awareness of need for discretion, sensitivity and high levels of confidentiality
• Ability to organise own work effectively and to be able to work as part of a team in a collaborative and supportive fashion

Desirable

• Experience of working in health or social care
• Previous experience of working in Bereavement Services
• An understanding of the current issues relating to governance within the NHS

Qualifications

Essential

• Numerate and literate to A level standard or equivalent experience

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Epsom & St Helier NHS Trust

Wrythe Lane

London

SM5 1AA

Employer's website

https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)