Job overview
Are you driven and motivated to play a pivotal role in service improvement. Are you passionate about providing excellent bereavement care with compassion?
We are looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our established Bereavement and Donation Support team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. You will develop and deliver bereavement and end of life support within the Trust and to increase awareness of our tissue donation service.
If you feel you have the skills and enthusiasm to support this service and ensure we deliver high quality bereavement care then please come and join our team.
Main duties of the job
You will promote high standards of Bereavement care and raise awareness of the potential for donation after death. This role will include Care after death, Ward support, and immediate acute bereavement care following death. Contacting families of every patient that dies within the trust to offer support and choices - including tissue donation where medically suitable and to signpost on to other services as appropriate.
As a key part of the role, you will perform eye retrievals from suitable donors following consent, and regularly provide admin cover within the bereavement office to support with completion of MCCD’s.
You will also uphold the Trust’s values in your behaviour and professionalism, working as part of a team to ensure that patients and relatives receive excellent care with compassion.
Working for our organisation
We have 10,000 fantastic people working hard to deliver quality services to our patients. Whatever your role, you help look after 370,000 people in our local area & give specialist care to 1.5 million people across Lancashire & Cumbria.
Working with us gives you the knowledge and sense of pride that every activity you do genuinely does make a difference to support our patients & staff, ensuring we keep thriving & delivering outstanding healthcare right across our local towns.
You’ll have access to varied development opportunities, learn new skills, meet fab people & do things you’d never have done. You’ll learn about working in a hospital, interacting with people from all different roles to build skills & enhance your career path.
You’ll make an impact, be challenged to think differently, be bold & help innovate to keep improving things. Everything we do centres around patient care and enhancing their experience which means your role is pivotal and something really to be proud of.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities listed below should be undertaken in accordance with the levels of competence as defined in the KSF outline for this post. In addition all staff are expected to act in accordance with the values and behaviours of the Trust. The post holder will be responsible for:
•Providing person-centred pre and post bereavement care. Maintain a visible presence in clinical areas to assist ward staff with issues and concerns pertaining to bereavement care.
•Attending calls from patients, relatives, carers, and other professionals, and to provide compassionate acute bereavement care, and signposting on to other services as appropriate.
•Maintaining an effective eye retrieval service, raising awareness of all forms of human tissue donation after death.
•Enucleate eyes from suitable donors both in the trust and across community settings, coordinate collection with eye banks and ensure paperwork is complete and accurate, responsible for maintaining own competencies.
•Maintaining accurate and complete records of all care activities, in a timely manner, adhering to local and professional standards for documentation.
•Support and contribute to audit processes, governance, research, clinical research trials and service development
Person specification
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
1. Experience of working in a care environment, providing patient centred, holistic care to patients
2. Experience of providing support at times of loss, death, dying and bereavement
3. Proven competency of performing a core range of clinical procedures i.e cannula/catheter removal
4. Knowledge of relevant policies and procedures
5. Driving license use of own car
Desirable criteria
6. Experience of working within an acute hospital setting
7. ANTT
8. Knowledge of The Human Tissue Act and Donation Process
9. Understanding of the Medical Examiners Service
10. Experience of educating others
11. Understanding of the Role of HM Coroners
Qualification & Education
Essential criteria
12. Good General Education with GCSE English and Mathematics
13. NVQ Level 3 or willingness to work towards this qualification
14. Willingness to train and gain competency in Eye retrieval
Desirable criteria
15. Courses in Bereavement or Care of the Dying
16. Evidence of continued role development
17. Willing to undertake learning and development courses.
18. Communication skills qualification
19. Eye Retrieval Competency