Bereavement Midwife

Job overview

The Bereavement Specialist Midwife will support the Bereavement Lead Midwife and wider multidisciplinary team to deliver compassionate, personalised and equitable care for women, birthing people and families experiencing pregnancy loss across University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

The post holder will provide specialist advice, support and education to maternity staff, promoting high quality bereavement care in line with national maternity priorities, bereavement care standards and evidence based practice. Working collaboratively with maternity, neonatal and specialist teams, they will contribute to the coordination, development and continuous improvement of bereavement services, ensuring families receive sensitive, responsive and family centred care throughout their bereavement journey.

The role will work across both St Richards Hospital (Chichester) and Worthing Hospital sites and support a culture of learning, reflection and professional development within maternity services.

Main duties of the job

• To provide bereavement support for women, birthing people and families suffering pregnancy loss, stillbirth and early infant loss.
• Play a lead role in the achievement and maintenance of high standards of service, using the tools of clinical audit, environment audit, and consumer satisfaction surveys to their full effect. Delegate where appropriate.
• Be accountable for own professional practice.
• To provide clinical support for staff who are providing bereavement support for a woman/birthing person and their family
• Demonstrate a variety of effective communication skills with women/birthing people and their families in what can be emotionally demanding and distressing situations to enable them to be involved in their care
• Co-ordinate and manage the processes following a pregnancy loss / maternal or neonatal death

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide bereavement support for women/birthing people and families suffering pregnancy loss, stillbirth and early infant loss.
• Play a lead role in the achievement and maintenance of high standards of service, using the tools of clinical audit, environment audit, and consumer satisfaction surveys to their full effect. Delegate where appropriate.
• Be accountable for own professional practice.
• To provide clinical support for staff who are providing bereavement support for a woman/birthing person and their family.
• Have human relation skills which enable them to understand, influence and communicate with colleagues, women, pregnant people and their families.
• Co-ordinate and manage the processes following a pregnancy loss / maternal or neonatal death
• To appropriately refer women or person for formal bereavement counselling at the request of the family or where identified by healthcare professionals.
• To liaise with all other agencies and departments involved in providing bereavement support i.e. coroner, chaplain, mortuary, cemetery, support groups, pathology departments, funeral service etc.
• To provide training for midwives on bereavement on a regular basis in accordance with the rolling education programme.

This role is eligible for visa sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker route. Sponsorship can only be provided where applicants meet the specific requirements set by UKVI, including the relevant skill and salary thresholds, and any role-specific criteria. For example, applicants for the Senior HCA role must be able to evidence a minimum of 2 years’ experience in the same role to qualify for sponsorship.

If you are applying using a Graduate visa as your right to work, you must have a minimum of 18 months remaining on your visa at time of application.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.