East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Operational Mortuary & Bereavement Services Deputy

This job is now closed

Job summary

Following a recent service restructure, an exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated Anatomical Pathology Technologists to join Ipswich Hospital as the deputy for Mortuary and Bereavement Services. You will work closely with the Strategic Operational Lead for Mortuary and Bereavement Services and your counterpart at Colchester Hospital to support the delivery of a high-quality, compassionate and compliant mortuary service at ESNEFT.

In this role, you will have a strong focus on leadership, service development, governance and regulatory compliance. You will work with the Deputy at Colchester to provide cross-site managerial support where required, ensuring consistent working practices, high professional standards and continuous service improvement.

You will be a qualified Anatomical Pathology Technologist with a Royal Society for Public Health Diploma in Anatomical Pathology Technology (or equivalent), and significant experience of working within a complex mortuary environment.

Main duties of the job

Provide effective and compassionate leadership and management at the Ipswich Hospital site.
Ensure compliance with quality standards, performance monitoring and reporting requirements, and act as the named Mortuary Person Designate under the Human Tissue Authority licence, ensuring the sensitive handling and disposal of human tissue in accordance with legislation, national guidance and Trust policy.
Day-to-day management of Anatomical Pathology Technologists, Medical Examiner Officer's and trainee staff, including personal development planning, encouraging and supporting CPD and training performance management.
Managing staff sickness absence, annual leave, on-call rotas and appraisals.
Ensure staff compliance with mandatory training and health and safety requirements
With the Strategic Operational Lead and Colchester Deputy, develop, authorise and review Standard Operating Procedures and Policies, ensuring all staff read, understand and implement.
Contributing to trust policies relating to management of deceased patients, death certification, and sensitive disposal of human tissue, seeking consent for post mortem examination and viewing of deceased patients.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Date posted

01 May 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£49,387 to £56,515 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

432-HR182-26

Job locations

Ipswich Hospital

Heath Road

Ipswich

IP4 5PD

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Managing or supervising staff
Developing and delivering presentations or training to other staff
Experience of participating in audits
Significant and proven post qualification experience of working in a Mortuary
Experience of working with bereaved families

Desirable

Budget management experience
Recruitment and Selection
Appraisal and other relevant
HR/People management training
Experience of undertaking risk assessments, incident investigation and complaint investigation

Qualifications

Essential

Degree in Anatomical Pathology Technology or equivalent qualification or relevant experience
Leadership or management development qualification or equivalent experience

Desirable

Relevant specialist qualification or training to postgraduate diploma level or equivalent level of experience

Knowledge

Essential

Have a comprehensive and working knowledge of the Human Tissue Act 2004
Ability to work to Human Tissue Authority codes of practice and have a good working knowledge of Authority Standards

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Managing or supervising staff
Developing and delivering presentations or training to other staff
Experience of participating in audits
Significant and proven post qualification experience of working in a Mortuary
Experience of working with bereaved families

Desirable

Budget management experience
Recruitment and Selection
Appraisal and other relevant
HR/People management training
Experience of undertaking risk assessments, incident investigation and complaint investigation

Qualifications

Essential

Degree in Anatomical Pathology Technology or equivalent qualification or relevant experience
Leadership or management development qualification or equivalent experience

Desirable

Relevant specialist qualification or training to postgraduate diploma level or equivalent level of experience

Knowledge

Essential

Have a comprehensive and working knowledge of the Human Tissue Act 2004
Ability to work to Human Tissue Authority codes of practice and have a good working knowledge of Authority Standards

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

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Ipswich Hospital

Heath Road

Ipswich

IP4 5PD

Employer's website

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

Employer details

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Ipswich Hospital

Heath Road

Ipswich

IP4 5PD

Employer's website

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