Job overview

·        To provide practical help and advice to the relatives of those who have recently died within the hospital; to include return of property and valuables and handing over the Medical Certificate and Cause of Death when one is issued.

·        To support bereaved relatives by providing advice and information on a wide range of bereavement issues including registration of the death and signposting relatives to other sources of advice including Coroner’s Office and bereavement support as necessary.

The Bereavement Team works as part of the wider Quality Governance Team, which contributes to the delivery of outstanding patient care by engaging at all levels of the organisation to ensure quality standards are being met.

Main duties of the job

·        To liaise with Medical Examiner’s Service, Medical Examiners, Medical Examiner Officers and attending practitioners regarding the issuing of the medical certificate of the cause of death (MCCD) and pre-cremation certification

·        To provide good communication to relatives and ensure that they are contacted as soon as possible following the death of the patient and kept sufficiently up to date

·        Respond to telephone calls from bereaved families, where callers may be highly emotive and distressed

·        To ensure that appropriate records are kept in relation to the handover of deceased patient property, in compliance with the relevant financial procedures

·        To facilitate meetings between bereaved relatives and nursing/medical staff, where relatives wish to discuss the care of the deceased

·        To coordinate the necessary requirements for consent and hospital postmortem examinations

·        To liaise with mortuary staff and external agencies as appropriate, where the deceased or their family have expressed a wish for tissue/organ donation or medical research

·        To support and, when appropriate, accompany families wishing to view the deceased in the hospital mortuary

·        To present a professional image of the Trust to patients, visitors and staff, in particular by protecting the confidentiality of information and providing an effective point of contact with the Trust

Working for our organisation

The Trust are advertising for 1.8 WTE Bereavement Officers. This is one post at 1WTE and one at 0.8WTE. 

Flexible Working

If you're looking for flexible or predictable working arrangements, please speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate this. If it works for our service and patients, we will do our best to make it work for you.

COVID19 Vaccination

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is committed to ensuring the safety of all our staff and patients therefore encourages and supports staff to be vaccinated against COVID19 as this remains the best line of defence against the virus.

 UK Points-based immigration system

Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the United Kingdom (UK) are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.  Please note that from 1 January 2021, to work in the UK all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship unless you have permission to work via another route.  Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply can self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship here Work in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

It is vital that you provide full and accurate details of your current immigration status on the application form.  Overseas applicants applying for entry clearance into the UK must present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided in continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years.  Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are applying for a vacancy in health or adult social care, you may be  eligible to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa instead, which is cheaper to apply for and you do not need to pay the annual immigration health surcharge.

Communications 

Communications throughout the application process will be via e-mail therefore please check your e-mail account and Trac account regularly. References are also requested by email (where possible). Therefore to speed up the recruitment process please provide an email address for all referees when completing your application form.

If you require any support in completing the application form, please do not hesitate to contact the HR Support Services team on 01246 513177 and we will be happy to provide assistance.

Please see the attached documents and links in relation to working for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In particular, the general conditions of employment and benefits of working for the trust.

This role is part of the integrated health and social care community across Derbyshire, where there are many opportunities to work across different locations and providers developing new and different skills. Whilst this role is initially based in Chesterfield there may be future opportunities to be based at different locations within the health and social care community which we may talk to you about in the future.

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