Job responsibilities
Family
liaison:
To manage and provide
expertise, knowledge and co-coordinate a sensitive and sympathetic service for
bereaved families/next of kin and to ensure the correct practices are followed,
working closely with the Medical Examiner Service.
To maintain and protect patient
and family confidentiality as per Trust policy.
Dealing with bereaved
families including support, and signposting to counselling services as
required. Receive/deal with complex, highly emotional situations. This includes
distressing and demanding situations where family members may be deeply
distressed, hysterical, confrontational or even aggressive. Patients / members
of the public / bereaved are to be dealt with in a calm and supportive manner.
Act as a focal point for
collection of medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) by relatives.
Key link person between
wards, families of the deceased and mortuary; liaison role.
Responsible for the day
to day running of the bereavement service and be able to confidently resolve
any issues arising in order to prevent any delays for families. Listening to
concerns raised by families and arranging meetings with medical staff where
appropriate, working in parallel with the Medical Examiner Service.
Ensure that all
possessions of the deceased are ready for collection at the time of relatives
appointment liaising with the wards and families. Arrange if requested by the
family the disposal of any unwanted property with the ward. Inform relatives of
process for collection of property.
Co-ordinate an
appointment system for bereaved relatives to return to the hospital in order to
collect all appropriate paperwork and belongings relating to the deceased.
Administration:
Ensure accurate and full
completion of all paperwork relating to the deceased.
Complete all electronic
documentation.
Arrange and attend a
meeting with patients relatives, friends or neighbours to discuss patients
documents.
Mortuary department:
Assist in maintaining
adequate capacity in the mortuary by ensuring all paperwork is completed
promptly to allow timely release of the deceased. Key role in managing process
flow to support deceased documentation and release required to ensure flow of
the deceased through the system.
Update mortuary when
deceased referred to coroner and when families inform us about their choice of
funeral director and whether burial or cremation for mortuary register.
Liaise with mortuary and
pathology staff, making arrangements when a request is made to view the
deceased patient.
As needed accompany a
bereaved family when visiting their loved one in the mortuary.
Trust relationships:
Support for new staff
including medical staff in regards to familiarity with bereavement management
process.
Training and education
for completion of electronic and paper documentation.
Liaising with clinical
staff in relation to cremation forms and all necessary paperwork where a post
mortem is required.
To liaise with the
Doctors and Medical Examiner checking cremation forms
Liaise with the Finance
Department to ensure that any money/property of the deceased patient is dealt
with efficiently and sensitively.
Attend A&E /ward when
family are already with the deceased and wanting immediate support/advice.
Attend wards to support a
patient who has had a recent bereavement
Act as liaison for any
relatives that wish to speak to the trust chaplaincy team
To act as a point of
contact and advisor to wards / departments on the procedure for those patients
dying in hospital without relatives.
Responsible for banding patients money / valuables with the hospital
cashiers, where applicable.
Liaise with the Pals Team
when enquiries are made; and support information for RCAs and process reviews
Work closely with the
Medical Examiner Service, providing administrative support as required
Coroner relationship:
Act as the link between
the Coroner service and Trust medical staff making referrals.
Ensure all referrals to
coroner are completed on the New Coroner Portal, ensuring all medical staff and
new staff are aware and trained on the use of portal and how to login.
Develop and maintain good
working relationships with the Coroner & his officers to ensure appropriate
information flow between the two organisations.
Registrar relationship:
Liaise with the Registrar
in order to book appointments for relatives to register death.
Maintain a good working
relationship to ensure continuity of updated information and changes in
regulations to the law are adhered to.
Following the
introduction of the Covid law take responsibility to scan all MCCDs and email
to registrar, followed by delivery of original documents to registry
office.
Funeral Director
relationship:
To liaise and have a
knowledge of local funeral directors in order to inform families of procedure
around funeral organisation.
Other external agencies:
Liaise with appropriate
university / ward / mortuary when relatives/other request that a body be
donated to medical science.
Inform all necessary
individuals of the patients death, where appropriate and relevant to do so
e.g. GP/community staff, other medical teams previously involved with the
patients care.
Have an understanding of
local availability of Counselling services and act as liaison when such
services are requested.
Attend and contribute to
the multi-agency meeting on behalf of the Trust to continuously improve the end
of life journey.
Contract and hospital
funerals:
Ascertain when a contract
funeral is required and make necessary arrangements in relation to trust
policy.
Organise tracing of
relatives / significant other, via case notes, GP, local press, ancestry
tracing / estate research when dealing with a deceased with no known next of
kin.
Responsible for all legal
paperwork / administration with regards to arranging and executing a contract
funeral. Meet with families to obtain the correct documents/complete necessary
checks. Approval of Funeral Directors invoices before passing for payment.
Generate and maintain
systems for storing easily accessible information regarding individual contract
funerals to ensure that information can be retrieved as and when required.
Accreditation:
Understand & be aware
of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) codes of practice for Consent, Post Mortem
& disposal of tissue.
Assist clinical staff to
obtain consent for hospital post mortem using appropriate documentation, to
meet HTA requirements.
Inform families/relatives
of the potential need to take tissue samples/organs as part of the post mortem
& their rights, under the HTA licence, on how the tissue/organ can be
processed following the conclusion of the post mortem findings.
As part of the End of
Life Team work with CQC during assessment periods.
Training and education:
Responsible for ensuring
all information relating to the bereavement service is up to date on the Trust
intranet and information booklets.
Update Bereavement
booklet as required and arrange print runs with printing company. Distribute
booklet to wards to give to relatives.
Promote the Bereavement
service within the organisation and to external bodies.
Attend Trust wide and
external events to present the service.
Support management with
the recruitment and selection process for new staff within the Bereavement and
mortuary team and be proactive in developing the service.
Attend training on how to
obtain consent following HTA standards.
Deliver training of new
Bereavement staff.
Deliver bereavement
support training to mortuary staff.
To participate in
education and support programmes in relation to bereavement care.
Implement changes
required with organisations due to changes in practice and law. Update mortuary
staff, Doctors and Ward staff of these changes.
To
attend all mandatory training as required by Trust policy.
