Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bereavement Specialist Midwife

The closing date is 10 March 2026

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Maternity Bereavement Team at ASPH at a time of significant developments to the service. As the Specialist Bereavement Midwife you will be leading on the implementation of a Pregnancy After Loss clinic, providing specialist antenatal care to families who have experienced a previous pregnancy loss, as well as supporting families experiencing bereavement in the current pregnancy. You will be working alongside our existing Bereavement, Birth Reflections and Birth Support midwives as part of a small team to provide high quality holistic care and support.

Main duties of the job

  • To be responsible as an autonomous practitioner for assessing, diagnosing and providing professional clinical midwifery care to normal healthy women/birthing people during the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal stages without referral to a medical practitioner.
  • To ensure referral to the appropriate health professional when deviations from the normal occur and to work in partnership with that health professional to ensure safe standards of care.
  • To co-ordinate and lead the bereavement service within the Maternity and Neonatal Department
  • To lead on the quality development of the bereavement service and to support women/birthing people and their partners where appropriate.
  • To lead on the development of guidelines and pathways in relation to the bereavement service working in collaboration with the Midwife Specialist Counsellor.
  • To lead on the implementation of a Rainbow Clinic to provide an enhanced care model for women/birthing people and birthing people experiencing pregnancy after loss

About us

Ashford and St. Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of more than 410,000 people living in North-West Surrey, parts of Hounslow and beyond.

Over 3,700 highly trained doctors, nurses, midwives, therapists, healthcare scientists and other support staff make up our workforce, providing a wide range of services across our two hospital sites, Ashford, Surrey and St Peter's, Chertsey, Surrey.

We also run many specialist clinics in the community and local community hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Our vision is to be one of the best healthcare Trusts in the country. There has never been a better time to join us in the NHS at ASPH. We are committed to providing continuous professional development and flexibility to shape our workforce around our patient care.

We are expanding our theatres at Ashford Hospital and moving towards this becoming our dedicated elective centre. We want to create a state-of-the-art centre for excellence for planned surgical procedures.

We can offer you the full range of NHS benefits/discounts and in addition:

  • Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement
  • On-site Nurseries
  • On-site staff cafes
  • On-site parking
  • Support in career development
  • Salary Sacrifice schemes including wage stream, lease cars, Cycle to Work schemes and home electronics

Adverts may close early, so applicants are encouraged to submit an application as soon as possible.

For more information about a career at ASPH please visit:www.asph-careers.org

Details

Date posted

26 February 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£51,657 to £58,785 a year pa Inc HCAS, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

323-NM8841-GK

Job locations

St Peter's Hospital

Guildford Road

Chertsey

KT16 0PZ


Job description

Job responsibilities

To have made an effective contribution to reaching the Trusts vision, strategic objectives and key work programmes.

To have undertaken clinical activity to satisfy NMC requirements for registration

To ensure the MatNeo bereavement support service is sensitive to the needs of women/birthing people and relatives of all cultures and religious beliefs across the whole maternity and neonatal service.

To liaise with the pastoral Care Team, Patient Affairs Office, Pathology Department, Funeral Directors and Mortuary, St Georges Hospital as appropriate.

To provide the highest standard of care to bereaved women/birthing people and ensure they are managed in accordance with prescribed protocols.

To offer support to colleagues when necessary.

To offer support to women/birthing people and their families.

To understand the lone worker policy.

To assist in the birth reflections service and support for pregnant women/birthing people with difficult issues.

Monitor and evaluate bereavement care services through audits, feedback, and incident reviews, ensuring continuous service improvement and compliance with regulatory standards.

Responsible for the development of a bereavement service plan to respond to the Independent Maternity Review recommendations, working in partnership with other midwives and bereavement professionals.

Job description

Job responsibilities

To have made an effective contribution to reaching the Trusts vision, strategic objectives and key work programmes.

To have undertaken clinical activity to satisfy NMC requirements for registration

To ensure the MatNeo bereavement support service is sensitive to the needs of women/birthing people and relatives of all cultures and religious beliefs across the whole maternity and neonatal service.

To liaise with the pastoral Care Team, Patient Affairs Office, Pathology Department, Funeral Directors and Mortuary, St Georges Hospital as appropriate.

To provide the highest standard of care to bereaved women/birthing people and ensure they are managed in accordance with prescribed protocols.

To offer support to colleagues when necessary.

To offer support to women/birthing people and their families.

To understand the lone worker policy.

To assist in the birth reflections service and support for pregnant women/birthing people with difficult issues.

Monitor and evaluate bereavement care services through audits, feedback, and incident reviews, ensuring continuous service improvement and compliance with regulatory standards.

Responsible for the development of a bereavement service plan to respond to the Independent Maternity Review recommendations, working in partnership with other midwives and bereavement professionals.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Further Training

Essential

  • Registered Midwife
  • Post graduate qualification or equivalent training and experience

Desirable

  • Post mortem consent training
  • Has shown professional development

Experience

Essential

  • Significant experience at band 6
  • Experience in working in all spheres of midwifery practice
  • Experience of working with bereaved families
  • Experience of service development and /or managing change

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of Child Bereavement Trust and SANDS recommendations in relation to bereavement care
  • Clinical governance and risk management issues
  • Philosophies of care for low and high risk women/birthing people
  • Understanding of national policies and guidelines including Clinical risk management, CNST, NICE

Desirable

  • Understanding of the National Bereavement Care Pathway and end of life issues.
  • Issues currently facing the NHS and Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust

Skills

Essential

  • Basic IT skills
  • Ability to deal with distressing and emotional circumstances
  • Time management skills and able to remain calm and function effectively under pressure
  • Self-managing, ability to work in partnership in a MDT
  • You have knowledge & awareness of diversity and human rights and the competencies appropriate to your role to support their diverse needs and human rights.

Desirable

  • Demonstrable leadership skills
  • Ability to participate in audit
Person Specification

Qualifications and Further Training

Essential

  • Registered Midwife
  • Post graduate qualification or equivalent training and experience

Desirable

  • Post mortem consent training
  • Has shown professional development

Experience

Essential

  • Significant experience at band 6
  • Experience in working in all spheres of midwifery practice
  • Experience of working with bereaved families
  • Experience of service development and /or managing change

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of Child Bereavement Trust and SANDS recommendations in relation to bereavement care
  • Clinical governance and risk management issues
  • Philosophies of care for low and high risk women/birthing people
  • Understanding of national policies and guidelines including Clinical risk management, CNST, NICE

Desirable

  • Understanding of the National Bereavement Care Pathway and end of life issues.
  • Issues currently facing the NHS and Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust

Skills

Essential

  • Basic IT skills
  • Ability to deal with distressing and emotional circumstances
  • Time management skills and able to remain calm and function effectively under pressure
  • Self-managing, ability to work in partnership in a MDT
  • You have knowledge & awareness of diversity and human rights and the competencies appropriate to your role to support their diverse needs and human rights.

Desirable

  • Demonstrable leadership skills
  • Ability to participate in 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.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

St Peter's Hospital

Guildford Road

Chertsey

KT16 0PZ


Employer's website

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


Employer details

Employer name

Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

St Peter's Hospital

Guildford Road

Chertsey

KT16 0PZ


Employer's website

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


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Patient Experience Matron

Kerry Horne

kerry.horne1@nhs.net

Details

Date posted

26 February 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£51,657 to £58,785 a year pa Inc HCAS, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

323-NM8841-GK

Job locations

St Peter's Hospital

Guildford Road

Chertsey

KT16 0PZ


Supporting documents

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