Job summary
- Main area
- Bereavement Services - 202023
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (to be confirmed)
- Job ref
- 262-A-25-7363646
- Employer
- North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- CIC or WCH TBC
- Town
- Carlisle or Whitehaven
- Salary
- £31,049 - £37,796 pa pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 27/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Bereavement Practitioner
NHS AfC: Band 5
Job overview
Bereavement Practitioner Band 5
If you find end of life and bereavement care a fulfilling career choice and you have compassion and excellent intuitive skills, this could be a role for you. We are looking for the right person to join our small team and to be actively involved in developing NCIC bereavement services in supporting patients, families and staff dealing with grief and end of life issues.
The Bereavement Service is a resource for colleagues and relatives of deceased patients in NCIC.
The post holder will act as a key point of contact for the bereaved and other service users contacting the service. This requires excellent self awareness, perceptiveness and compassion as dealing with people in variable states of emotional reactions.
Main duties of the job
· The postholder will assess needs of service users, co-ordinating and facilitating high quality bereavement support, signposting to appropriate services, or escalating to senior colleagues as necessary.
· The postholder will use advanced communication skills to engage with a breadth of nursing, medical and support staff, and non clinical service users around all aspects of best practice in end of life and bereavement care.
· The postholder will lead on agreed quality improvement projects within their scope of practice, under the guidance of bereavement liaison specialist nurse.
· The postholder will be expected to work across NCIC acute and community sites depending on service need, and may be required to travel to other community settings as required.
· The postholder will direct the work of junior colleagues, e.g. bereavement officers, clinical educator colleagues, providing line-management for them within scope of practice and under guidance of senior colleagues.
· The postholder will actively support the end of life learning and development offer, collaborating with clinical educator colleagues as required, and leading on agreed parts of the offer.
· Aspects of the bereavement practitioner role will undergo change and development, which may include new technology, methods or working systems and procedures. The post holder will be expected, following appropriate consultation and training, to embrace any such changes in working practice.
Working for our organisation
At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.
Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of ‘safe, high quality care every time':
- Being a clinically led organisation
- Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust
- A positive patient experience every time
- A great place to work
- Managing our money well
As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.
Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.
Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment. Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed.
If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.
Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.
· Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.
· If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.
Important Information
Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.
For candidates applying using a Hotmail account or have strict firewall settings please ensure the following:
- Junk Mail is checked regularly
Disclosure and Barring Service:
On 28 November 2020, the new Disclosure and Barring Service filtering rules will come into effect.
The changes mean that:
- youth cautions, reprimands and final warnings will no longer be subject to automatic disclosure
- the multiple conviction rule has been removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than being automatically disclosed.
If you are unsure about whether you need to disclose certain criminal record information, free confidential advice may be sought from one of the charity bodies listed below. These bodies can advise you on what you are legally required to declare and may also be able to advise you on how you can disclose criminal record information to a prospective employer and your legal rights when doing so.
Nacro – Tel: 0300 123 1999, or email: [email protected]
Unlock – Tel: 01634 247350, email [email protected] or complete the online form on the Unlock website
Please note the cost of the DBS check is increasing from 2nd December and the new cost will be
Standard DBS check £21.50, Enhanced DBS check £49.50 + any admin costs.
The Trust is committed to safeguarding adults and children therefore if the post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended) the successful candidate(s) will be subject to a criminal records check with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:
Standard Check: £18 + Administration cost of £3.85 = £21.85. Deducted at £6.85 from 1st month salary and £5 deducted from salary over following 3 months.
Enhanced Check: £38 + administration cost of £3.90 = £41.90. Deducted at £11.90 from 1st month salary and £10 deducted from salary over following 3 months.
As part of the one of the largest employers in the UK NCIC future employees will have also access to the following benefits.
A lease car may be available for this position; further details will be provided upon appointment if applicable.
27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years
Flexible working Scheme
Excellent opportunities for development
Competitive NHS Pension scheme
Access to NHS discounts with retailers and leisure companies
EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems
These schemes are subject to availability
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered General Nurse, Registered Health Professional, or equivalent.
- Evidence of continued professional development.
- Advanced Communication Skills Training or prepared to work towards.
Desirable criteria
- First level degree in related subject or equivalent
- Post-basic qualification in bereavement/end of life care.
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working in a healthcare setting with multi-disciplinary teams across organisational boundaries
- Able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of bereavement and loss and experience in supporting bereaved families in a professional capacity
- Experience in customer focused / caring environment
- Insight into end of life and bereavement issues, e.g. normal grief patterns, roles of funeral directors, Coroner’s Office, Registration Service.
- Knowledge of best practice guidance in end of life and bereavement care.
- Understanding of the Medical Examiner process and how this works in practice.
- Knowledge and understanding of confidentiality and safeguarding guidance within healthcare.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of audit and research
- Teaching / training experience.
- Leadership of a team.
- Understanding of change management.
Skills and Aptitudes
Essential criteria
- Ability to demonstrate competent leadership skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to maintain good professional relationships even when dealing with contentious matters
- Ability to work flexibly, both alone and within a team, to meet variable demands of the role.
- Organised, methodical and good attention to detail.
- Presentation skills.
- Able to manage own workload and supervise junior colleagues in managing theirs.
- Able to collate, analyse and present information in a variety of formats.
- Excellent verbal and written English skills.
- Ability to talk openly and frankly about death, dying and all aspects of end of life care.
- Ability to manage conflict in a calm, professional manner.
- IT and administrative skills including use of Excel spreadsheets.
- Excellent listening and empathy skills.
- Ability to treat people with dignity and respect.
- Ability to organise and prioritise work and meet deadlines, remaining calm under pressure.
- Ability to use initiative appropriately
- Willingness to engage in peer supervision.
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
- Alignment to Trust Values and Core Behaviours
- Promote equality and value diversity.
- Ability and willingness to travel to NCIC sites and other community sites as required.
- Able to handle patients medical notes files, along with bags of patient property in a safe manner in accordance with Trust Moving & Handling policy
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Helen Westwood
- Job title
- Bereavement Liaison Specialist Nurse
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01228 616878
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