Specialist Bereavement Midwife

Job description

Job responsibilities

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Act as the designated lead and coordinator for bereaved families following peripartum loss.

Work in partnership with bereaved families to provide responsive emotional care and support, acknowledging the impact and psychological distress of perinatal loss on the family unit.

Work collaboratively with all members of the multidisciplinary team and other key personnel in primary and secondary care to provide a seamless supportive package of care tailored to the bereaved families individual needs.

Monitor psychological wellbeing and liaise closely with the Perinatal Mental Health services to ensure timely referral and intervention where indicated.

Provide practical advice and support to bereaved families regarding the registration of death, funeral arrangements and financial support as indicated.

Ensure bereaved families are aware of external support systems available and facilitate signposting and access as required.

Support bereaved families during follow up appointments by advocating for them as required and subsequently reinforcing information and explanations given.

Provide individualised support for bereaved families in subsequent pregnancies through the specialist clinic.

Responsible for the safe use of a range of equipment in the course of their duties which they personally use.

Actively participate in supporting team members and student midwives by sharing knowledge, skills and expertise in bereavement care.

Plan, deliver and evaluate educational packages for the multidisciplinary team to ensure the delivery of evidence based high quality bereavement care.

Evaluate service user feedback and disseminate trends and themes through shared learning platforms.

Network with other bereavement midwives across the region and nationally as appropriate to share best practice and learning.

Maintain professional development to enable the development, delivery and evaluation of outstanding evidence based bereavement care.

Escalate any factors which are impeding the delivery of a high quality service to the senior management team.

Work closely with the nurse specialist for post mortem consent and undertake consent for post mortem as required.

Liaise with the Trust Human Tissue Authority team to ensure compliance in the maternity services is in line with local and national requirements.

Act as the designated lead contact for the maternal, newborn and infant clinical outcome review programme (MBRRACE-UK) submitting trust data as required and developing specialised programmes of care from this.

Benchmark service delivery against the National Bereavement Pathways, identify gaps and develop strategies for quality improvement.

Review and develop guidelines for bereavement care and align these to local and national standards. Develop formal reports based on the findings of national regional and local data where the service may have changed and advising others of the changes where this affects the wider service provided by the Trust and local teams and benchmark local service delivery against regional and national recommendations.

Review and develop information packages for service users.

Deliver reports making recommendations for practice and quality improvements at CSU governance forums.

Regularly undertakes work audits and participates in research activity which includes participating in clinical audits and making recommendations for practice. Critically analyse data from local, regional and national reports including MBRRACE.

Contribute to the multidisciplinary perinatal mortality reviews and the dissemination of learning and feedback following review.

Maintain a database of all bereaved families who have experienced perinatal loss in the maternity services and where possible compare and analyse this information and data for a range of options including reports for specific programmes/audits and research.

Work with the senior management team to develop innovative and collaborative approaches to implementing the national maternity strategy in relation to bereavement services i.e. continuity of care in subsequent pregnancy.

Work in partnership with third sector organisations to facilitate a system wide approach to bereavement care.

Liaise with the local Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) and service user representatives from the Perinatal Bereavement Steering group to co-produce resources and consult on proposed service changes.

Please see attached job description for full details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Midwife
• Degree in Midwifery
• Evidence of continuing professional education and development.
• Experience in all aspects of maternity care.

Desirable

• Masters Degree or working towards Masters level qualification.
• Experience in a specialist bereavement midwifery post.

Skills & behaviours

Essential

• Excellent communication skills and ability to be responsive to highly emotive conversations.
• Act as a role model demonstrating exemplary skills in bereavement care.
• Flexible, highly motivated and supportive of others.
• Ability to develop excellent working relationships with all staff within the Trust and external partners.
• Strong organisational and planning skills
• Willing to develop new skills including completing appropriate training as required.

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable experience in developing self and others and changing practice.
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the National Bereavement Pathways and how they impact on service delivery.
• Recent demonstrable experience of supporting bereaved families following perinatal loss.
• Proven leadership and management skills.

Desirable

• Ability to or working towards competence in obtaining post-mortem consent and compliance with the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regulations.
• Knowledge and understanding of the reporting requirements to external bodies following peripartum loss.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF

Employer's website

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