Bereavement Midwife

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To ensure safe and effective clinical practice the Bereavement Midwife will:

Be responsible to coordination of care and support for bereaved families who suffer a pregnancy loss within maternity over 16 week’s gestation. Support in these instances involves communication in difficult circumstances and requires excellent interpersonal skills due to the highly emotional nature of the cases.

Continually develop and review guidelines in relation to pregnancy loss and the death of a baby in order to achieve best practice

Liaise closely with other departments including bereavement services, staff, chaplaincy, mortuary, pathology services, registrar of births and deaths, coroner’s officers and local funeral directors

Act as an educational resource for staff on physical, psychological and administrative aspects of bereavement care.

Give specialist advice to members of staff on specific aspects of bereavement care.

Act as an advocate for women receiving care.

Support staff in the clinical areas and mentor junior midwives who are involved in caring for bereaved families.

Have responsibility for setting, monitoring and reviewing standards and procedures for bereavement support that are within the clinical framework

Be responsible for the coordination/implementation of the core principles in relation to the National Bereavement Care Pathway within maternity.

Be a Person Designate for the Human Tissue Authority within maternity to ensure compliance within the recommendations of the Human Tissues Act.

Have a working knowledge and comply with the requirements of MBRRACE and be part of the PMRT review process within maternity. Acting as an advocate for parents and ensuring that there perspectives are taken forward.

Maintain strong links with support organisations such as SANDS, ARC, Lullaby Trust, Child Bereavement UK.

Work closely with bereavement leads within neonatal care and gynaecology services.

Represent RWT at local and national bereavement events

Become a core member of regular groups including Governance, PMRT Group and Perinatal Mortality Review meetings. Will have direct patient contact, delivering care and support in a variety of settings in accordance with the need of women and families. This includes within the hospital and out in the community.

Be required to support women and families, through a wide range of treatments and experiences which can be highly distressing and challenging.

The bereavement midwife will have access to restorative clinical practice sessions for emotional support and wellbeing provided by the Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMS’s) within the maternity unit.

Take part in the processes of MBRRACE (Mothers and Babies Reducing Risk through Audit and Confidential Enquiry), Surveillance Tool, PMRT (Perinatal Mortality Review Tool) and CDOP (Child Death Review Panel). This will include regular attendance at meetings when required and working closely with Governance Team.

The post holder will be expected to:

Assess, plan, implement and evaluate Midwifery care for mothers and babies suffering bereavement.

Analyse and evaluate the effectiveness and make necessary modifications of any Midwifery care pathway, giving professional support and advice as required.

Give emotional support for families by visiting them during their stay within maternity.

Be sensitive and have an awareness of differences in religious, cultural and spiritual needs of the families.

Give advice regarding choices available to parents following the loss of a baby.

Support bereaved families to help them understand clinical information they may have been given.

Respond to requests for assistance with emotional and psychological support of family members and recognise need to refer to the perinatal counsellor.

Provide information relating to Registration, Funeral Services, Support Agencies

Maintain a visible and accessible presence within the unit for both staff and families.

Discuss further investigations available to parents including blood tests, post mortem examination and placental histology.

Gain informed consent for post mortem examination from parents

Support staff to assist parents in creating memories for their baby, arranging blessings, photographs and keepsakes.

Ensure the privacy and dignities of all patients are maintained being mindful of patient confidentiality.

Provide both practical and emotional support to women and their families, giving them opportunity to acknowledge and express their concerns in a safe environment maintaining confidentiality.

Coordinate postnatal follow up as agreed in conjunction with the parents.

Complete all documentation, including face to face discussions, telephone, text or email conservations with parents, pathways and outside referrals and agencies on the Badger electronic patient record.

Manage enquiries from staff, patients and relatives in a timely and professional manner either in writing, orally or electronically.

Use clinical and leadership skills to update and develop bereavement services to ensure that support is evidenced based and produces a co-ordinated and efficient service

Lead on projects for the improving quality programme.

Liaise with the Trust Bereavement team, Mortuary services, Chaplaincy, Charities, agencies laboratory services, registrar of births and deaths, the coroner’s officers and funeral directors.

Work with families where when/if a maternal death has occurred.

Develop a training and education programme around baby loss and bereavement for all health care professionals.

Provide support and guidance to staff who are delivering care bereaved women and families within the unit.

Undertake audit and provide statistics with regard to bereavement support.

Work closely with local and national support groups ensuring that care is seamless and of a high quality

Work with the delivery suite team providing clinical support for women and staff as required.

Network locally and nationally with other midwives who have a special interest in bereavement support.

Create and review guidelines for practice based on the best available evidence.

Develop and review patient information leaflets related to bereavement services and be a member of the patient information forum.

Will be responsible for the coordination/implementation of the core principles in relation to the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP)

Monitor the effectiveness of care delivery and re-negotiate the programmes of care where indicated to meet the woman’s' needs.

Refer people to other practitioners when needs and risks are beyond one's own scope of practice or require specialist input.

Provide support and care for the woman/baby and her family, respecting their need for privacy and dignity.

Maintain accurate and legible patient notes in accordance with Trust and national professional policies and guidelines.

Communicate effectively with a wide range of people to explore complex issues and to make complex decisions related to pregnancy loss.

Effectively communicate complex and sensitive condition-related information to the woman and relatives which requires empathy and reassurance.

Competently receive sensitive information concerning the woman's care pathway and provide information using persuasive, reassuring skills as required, e.g. Breaking bad news/special needs/dealing with anxious relatives.

Agree the arrangements for communication with the woman/family/carers, and document these in accordance with Trust policy and the patient's right to confidentiality.

Prioritise the care pathways identified for woman and positively influence the assessment, planning, delivery and evaluation of midwifery,

Ensure the processes are in place to identify, collect and evaluate information in order to support clinical decision-making

Keep up to date and act consistently with quality standards and guidelines within own clinical area and associated areas.

Have an understanding of the quality agenda and how standards of care can be maintained.

Continuously monitor and evaluate the quality of work against quality standards in own area and take effective action to address them.

For full details, please see the attached job description and person specification