Job summary
Are you a midwife passionate about delivering compassionate bereavement care for women and families?
An exiting opportunity has arisen for a highly dedicated and passionate midwife to join our fantastic team as Bereavement Specialist Midwife. You must be able to demonstrate a high level of specialised bereavement care and have excellent interpersonal skills.
Main duties of the job
The role will require the right candidate to provide support to midwifery, nursing and medical staff within the Directorate when caring for women experiencing a loss in pregnancy, stillbirth or early neonatal death.
You will act as a clinical specialist providing written and verbal information to bereaved families and to support women and their families who have experienced fetal loss and /or childbirth related difficulties.
You will be required to act as an educational resource for medical, midwifery and nursing staff on physical, psychological and administrative aspects of bereavement care. In addition, this role is to provide support and training for staff in bereavement related issues.
About us
We have a dynamic and supportive midwifery leadership team who will support you in delivering high quality, innovative care. We are a digital enhanced service and work flexibly to meet the needs of women and families accessing our service.
We are an ambitious trust and are continuing to make significant changes to the way we work and provide our services in order to meet the expectations of 21st century care. In fact we've recently received capital funding of £196.5million to support the creation of two state of the art hospitals by 2025 to meet the needs of the local community. So it's never been a more exciting time to join us as we move into the next phase of our transformation journey.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Specialist
- Act as an effective advocate for the bereaved woman and her family, responding to their needs to ensure their care is of the highest possible standard
- Be an accessible resource and give practical help and support where appropriate, either by telephone or in person to staff of all level, patients and their families
- To give emotional and psychological support to bereaved parents and staff involved in their care. This may involve care in the antenatal period, during labour and the postnatal period
- Ensure access to services is initiated and maintained for those women needing support for an appropriate time period including home visiting for those where entering the hospital environment causes considerable distress
- Where required, provide hands-on care in labour to women who have a diagnosed perinatal loss
- To counsel families regarding post-mortem and other investigations and obtain post-mortem consent when required
- To provide expert advice to staff and bereaved families regarding Registration of their babies birth and death and making funeral arrangements, along with ensuring the relevant documentation is completed
- To work alongside the community midwife when required to support women that have experienced a loss by visiting them at home
- To ensure families know how to access further support from local agencies and National support organisations when needed
- To ensure women and their families can provide feedback about the quality of the service provided and their experience, feeding back through the governance structure
- To develop, maintain and review fetal loss documentation ensuring guidelines are up to date and evidence based, ensuring that the maternity service has in place comprehensive, culturally sensitive, multidisciplinary policies, services and facilities for the management and support of women who have experienced pregnancy loss, stillbirth or early neonatal loss
- To be an active member of the bereavement team attending forums and meetings in relation to the role, including acting as a person designate for the HTA
- Facilitate and support the implementation of national and local quality initiatives to improve service delivery including the NBCP, NBEM, SBL care bundle 2, Yorkshire and the Humber Bereavement guidelines, Maternity Improvement plan, and CNST Incentive scheme standards
- To provide teaching and development opportunities through experiential learning and formal education experiences, identifying and disseminating research findings relating to perinatal bereavement
- Ensure midwives who wish to take PM consent are trained and their competency regularly assessed and recorded as per Trust guidance
- To undertake audit as required
- To attend debrief sessions to support parents and staff
- To plan and evaluate perinatal bereavement clinical care ensuring that safe, holistic evidence based care is delivered
- Ensure compliance with National reporting systems and reporting to PMRT, MBRRACE and CDOP
- To coordinate the retrieval of pathological investigations, including PM reports and ensure results are available for follow-up appointments
- To coordinate and actively contribute to the Subsequent / Rainbow Pregnancy Service, providing ongoing support and guidance for those experiencing a pregnancy following a perinatal loss
- To take responsibility for the ongoing upkeep of the bereavement room, ensuring all resources for the support of staff and families are sourced and stocked on a regular basis. This will include the appropriate use of Charitable Funds for the benefit of bereaved families
Communication
- To deliver highly sensitive, complex and distressing information to patients and their families whilst promoting respect, privacy and dignity in accordance with Trust standards
- To establish and maintain effective working relationships with members of the Multi- faith Chaplaincy team, funeral directors, mortuary and pathology team, Registry staff, Coroner (when required), Hospice staff and local support agencies and Charities
- Leads and supports an open culture ensuring communication channels are in place where learning and innovation are encouraged and shared for the safety and learning of staff and patients
Job description
Job responsibilities
Clinical Specialist
- Act as an effective advocate for the bereaved woman and her family, responding to their needs to ensure their care is of the highest possible standard
- Be an accessible resource and give practical help and support where appropriate, either by telephone or in person to staff of all level, patients and their families
- To give emotional and psychological support to bereaved parents and staff involved in their care. This may involve care in the antenatal period, during labour and the postnatal period
- Ensure access to services is initiated and maintained for those women needing support for an appropriate time period including home visiting for those where entering the hospital environment causes considerable distress
- Where required, provide hands-on care in labour to women who have a diagnosed perinatal loss
- To counsel families regarding post-mortem and other investigations and obtain post-mortem consent when required
- To provide expert advice to staff and bereaved families regarding Registration of their babies birth and death and making funeral arrangements, along with ensuring the relevant documentation is completed
- To work alongside the community midwife when required to support women that have experienced a loss by visiting them at home
- To ensure families know how to access further support from local agencies and National support organisations when needed
- To ensure women and their families can provide feedback about the quality of the service provided and their experience, feeding back through the governance structure
- To develop, maintain and review fetal loss documentation ensuring guidelines are up to date and evidence based, ensuring that the maternity service has in place comprehensive, culturally sensitive, multidisciplinary policies, services and facilities for the management and support of women who have experienced pregnancy loss, stillbirth or early neonatal loss
- To be an active member of the bereavement team attending forums and meetings in relation to the role, including acting as a person designate for the HTA
- Facilitate and support the implementation of national and local quality initiatives to improve service delivery including the NBCP, NBEM, SBL care bundle 2, Yorkshire and the Humber Bereavement guidelines, Maternity Improvement plan, and CNST Incentive scheme standards
- To provide teaching and development opportunities through experiential learning and formal education experiences, identifying and disseminating research findings relating to perinatal bereavement
- Ensure midwives who wish to take PM consent are trained and their competency regularly assessed and recorded as per Trust guidance
- To undertake audit as required
- To attend debrief sessions to support parents and staff
- To plan and evaluate perinatal bereavement clinical care ensuring that safe, holistic evidence based care is delivered
- Ensure compliance with National reporting systems and reporting to PMRT, MBRRACE and CDOP
- To coordinate the retrieval of pathological investigations, including PM reports and ensure results are available for follow-up appointments
- To coordinate and actively contribute to the Subsequent / Rainbow Pregnancy Service, providing ongoing support and guidance for those experiencing a pregnancy following a perinatal loss
- To take responsibility for the ongoing upkeep of the bereavement room, ensuring all resources for the support of staff and families are sourced and stocked on a regular basis. This will include the appropriate use of Charitable Funds for the benefit of bereaved families
Communication
- To deliver highly sensitive, complex and distressing information to patients and their families whilst promoting respect, privacy and dignity in accordance with Trust standards
- To establish and maintain effective working relationships with members of the Multi- faith Chaplaincy team, funeral directors, mortuary and pathology team, Registry staff, Coroner (when required), Hospice staff and local support agencies and Charities
- Leads and supports an open culture ensuring communication channels are in place where learning and innovation are encouraged and shared for the safety and learning of staff and patients
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- NMC Registered Midwife
- Educated to degree level
- Mentorship / Preceptorship training
- Bereavement training
Desirable
- Post-mortem consent training or willingness to undertake
- PMA or willingness to undertake preparation for Professional Midwifery Advocate
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS (INCLUDING MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES)
Essential
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Excellent report writing and presentations skills.
- Ability to prioritise and meet deadlines.
- IT expertise
- Ability to compile, analyse and disseminate complex information
- Ability to influence and motivate others
- Ability to make decisions and be accountable for them
Desirable
- Presentation skills
- Ability to network across directorates and divisions
- Able to demonstrate a broad knowledge of health policy in relation to midwifery practice
KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE
Essential
- Experience of MDT working
- Recent experience in midwifery practice
- Demonstrable experience caring for bereaved families
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Knowledge of K2 and EPR systems
- Counselling training
- Experience with audit
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- NMC Registered Midwife
- Educated to degree level
- Mentorship / Preceptorship training
- Bereavement training
Desirable
- Post-mortem consent training or willingness to undertake
- PMA or willingness to undertake preparation for Professional Midwifery Advocate
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS (INCLUDING MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES)
Essential
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Excellent report writing and presentations skills.
- Ability to prioritise and meet deadlines.
- IT expertise
- Ability to compile, analyse and disseminate complex information
- Ability to influence and motivate others
- Ability to make decisions and be accountable for them
Desirable
- Presentation skills
- Ability to network across directorates and divisions
- Able to demonstrate a broad knowledge of health policy in relation to midwifery practice
KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE
Essential
- Experience of MDT working
- Recent experience in midwifery practice
- Demonstrable experience caring for bereaved families
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Knowledge of K2 and EPR systems
- Counselling training
- Experience with audit
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
