Bereavement Officer

1 month ago

Worthing, United Kingdom University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust Full time

Job overview

** THIS POSITION IS ONLY OPEN TO CURRENT UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST EMPLOYEES **

An opportunity has arisen to join our Bereavement teams at St Richards and Worthing Hospitals. The post holder will require excellent customer service, communication and organisational skills with the ability to manage a variety of tasks throughout the working day. The work involves dealing with people at an extremely difficult time in their lives and you must be able to complete the necessary tasks whilst acting in a caring and compassionate way. The post holder must be able to work effectively within a team and autonomously.

Main duties of the job

To co-ordinate the day to day functioning of the bereavement service, ensuring prompt and correct documentation relating to the death of a patient within the trust.

The post holder’s key working relationships will be with:

Internal:

Patients and families

Medical Examiners and Medical Examiner Officer

Mortuary services

Wider patient experience teams

Clinical divisions

Reception and other patient facing teams on site

External:

Coroner’s office

Funeral directors

Registrars

Working for our organisation

At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always put the Patient First, as shown in our Outstanding for Caring CQC rating. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of Staff Networks to help break down barriers, and can offer a buddy to help new members settle in. We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) and a Veteran Aware Trust.

We treat our patients and staff with the same compassion and empathy we expect for ourselves. We’re here for them when they need us, and we go above and beyond to meet their needs. This can be seen in our Wellbeing Programme for staff which is extensive and designed to support you when you need it - because we know that to look after others we must first look after ourselves.

As a university trust and a leader in healthcare research, we value learning, teaching and training so that we can be the best that we can be. From the moment you start with us and throughout your career we will help you to grow and develop. We hope that in choosing UHSussex you are choosing a long and happy career where you will be able to see the difference you make and feel valued for all that you do.

We look forward to receiving your application and the start of your journey with UHSussex. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communication

To be point of access to bereavement services maintaining an in-person, telephone patient help line and email support for the bereavement office.

Offering compassionate support and information to relatives particularly in relation to registration of deaths, funeral arrangements, post mortems and organ donation both over the telephone and in person when they arrive to collect the paperwork.

Contacting wards to access records

Notifying GPs of the death of a patient

Service Delivery and Improvement

Arranging for the medical staff to speak to relatives if any concerns or questions about the death are raised to ensure these are resolved quickly and with a satisfactory outcome. 

Witnessing the consenting procedure to a hospital post mortem examination with the designated consultant. 

Providing full support to the Patient Services Supervisor and assumes day to day responsibility during annual leave and sickness

Managing the process of completion of the certificate of death through liaison with doctors of all grades, pathologists, Coroner's officers and risk manager, where appropriate. 

Liaising with the hospital chaplain and the contract funeral directors to arrange a funeral where there is no next of kin. 

Being aware of the requirements of the Human Tissue Act in relation to hospital post mortems and the associated consent process

Being responsible for the safekeeping of deceased patients' property including valuables and money ensuring associated documentation is properly completed and the property is in a condition acceptable to be handed over to the relatives. 

Store cheques received for doctors

Maintaining compliance with the legal requirements in relation to the issue of cause of death certificates, the registration of deaths and the requirements for referral to the coroner's office.

Advising doctors on forms ensuring they are completed in a timely way, correctly and the necessary processes are followed. 

Recording all deaths and relevant information on the PANDA database 

Documenting all lost property either when it comes to the office or when it is reported lost 

Ensuring sufficiency of HTA consent taking training

Completing Free from Infection forms to be used with bodies being repatriated to another country. 

Overseeing body donations calls and relevant paperwork sent to bereavement from donor recipient organisation, also for School of Anatomy 

For contract funerals, locating any NOK, registering death at local Registrar office and buying a death certificate. Obtaining by any means bank details/ cards/statements, all utility bills, any valuable items, gain access to property with HA or council appointee or second member of bereavement team. Notification to landlords or Housing Assoc of rental properties now being empty and Section 21 to be served by them.

Managing deceased patients' property - Ensure collection, re contact family after 2 weeks if not collected and dispose if requested.

Patient Care Delivery

Supporting relatives if they are distressed when they arrive and escorts relatives to the mortuary to view the deceased when a request to view is made. 

Witnessing wills and/or power of attorney when requested and when a doctor has confirmed that the patient is of sound mind, having assessed that the patient knows what they are signing.

Person specification

Essential

Essential criteria

Good level of general education Experience and learning in relevant fields e.g. customer service, patient and public involvement Experience of working effectively in customer care services in a health or social care or voluntary sector setting where handling difficult and stressful situations was necessary Experience of office systems, problem solving and the use of organisational skills Ability to organise own workload and act on own initiative Able to follow a standard operating procedure for a bereavement office Excellent written and verbal English Good IT skills (standard office software), data management and inputting

Desirable criteria

Willingness to seek out new concepts and ideas Self-motivated with a flexible and adaptable approach

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Essential criteria

Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles (as appropriate to Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues

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