Leeds Centre for Newborn Care is delighted to announce a new role to expand our compassionate and caring team.

The post holder will coordinate and lead the care and support of parents and families following the loss of their babies from early and late neonatal death on the neonatal unit. The post holder will need to have advanced communication skills to support families at one of their most difficult and emotional times in their lives. They will provide specialist skills and knowledge to support the neonatal team in the delivery of end-of-life care to infants and families. This will include developing advanced palliative care plans, working in partnership with the family and the multi-disciplinary team, to co-ordinate care after death. The post holder will possess expert knowledge of the processes, legalities and requirements following death and will facilitate and contribute to the deliver of care tailored to the familys individual needs. The post holder will be a clinical expert in neonatal care who supports the clinical team to delivery high standard of care, creates a safe learning environment for the team to gain knowledge through their guidance and expertise

Main duties of the job

Act as the designated lead and coordinator for parents and families following the death of their infant.

Work in partnership with families to provide responsive emotional care and support, acknowledging the impact and psychological distress of infant death on the family unit.

Work collaboratively with all members of the neonatal multidisciplinary team and other key personnel in primary and secondary care to provide a supportive package of care tailored to individual needs of parents and families.

Ensure parents and their families are aware of external support systems available and facilitate signposting and access as required.

Provide practical advice and support to parents regarding the registration of death, funeral arrangements and financial support as indicated.

Support parents and their families during follow up appointments by advocating for them as required and subsequently reinforcing information and explanations given.

In conjunction with the mortality consultant lead, submit data to the MBRRACE national audit. This will include coordinating and completing the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool

Contribute to the multidisciplinary perinatal mortality reviews and the dissemination of learning and feedback following review.

Review and develop guidelines for bereavement care and align these to local and national standards.

Benchmark local service delivery against regional and national standards, identify gaps and develop strategies

About us

The Leeds Neonatal Service delivers care to over 1400 babies per year. We have 14 intensive care, 16 high dependency, 10 New- born surgical and 16 special care cots cross city. We also have a 13 bedded Transitional care unit on the St James Hospital Site and 6 Transitional care cots integrated into the post natal Ward on the Leeds General Infirmary Site.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will coordinate the care and support of parents/carers/families following the loss of their baby/babies after being cared for within the Leeds neonatal service. The post holder will be responsible for providing complex and sensitive information in a range of circumstances where interpersonal and communication skills are essential. They will facilitate and contribute to the delivery of a seamless integrated package of care tailored to the parents needs.

In addition the post holder will coordinate completion of MBRRACE and Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT), and will facilitate parental feedback into this process. This will then be presented at monthly PMRT meetings with the outcomes finalised and any further discussions held with the family.

The post holder will work closely with the multidisciplinary team to support implementation and delivery of evidence based bereavement care aligned to the National Bereavement Pathways (NBP). They will work collaboratively with other internal and external stakeholders in primary and secondary care and the third sector to ensure optimal support following bereavement. They will act as an expert resource for bereavement, be a positive role model and provide sound professional knowledge and leadership to all members of the multidisciplinary team within the neonatal service.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Level 1 Nurse/Midwife
• Qualified in speciality (Neonatal)
• Degree in Nursing or related subject or equivalent professional experience
• Recognised Teaching Qualification
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development

Desirable

• Experience in a specialist bereavement nurse post

Skills & Behaviours

Essential

• Organisational skills
• Ability to communicate to large groups complex messages.
• Time management skills.
• Ability to make effective connections with all levels within the organisation.
• Ability to manage data from a variety of sources and formulate into user friendly information.
• Ability to respond positively to change, modernisation and new ways of working.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Compassionate.
• Flexible.

practical skills or Additional Requirements

Essential

• Leadership skills
• Influencing and Negotiation
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to organise and prioritise own and others workload
• Able to fulfil Occupational Health requirements for the post (with reasonable adjustments if necessary), including clearance on blood borne viruses in compliance with Trust Policy

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience in the specialist area to act as expert practitioner.
• Experience of managing staff.
• Experience of patient service user advocacy role
• Awareness of current relevant NHS policy context relating to the speciality and can translate this in to local practice reflected in organisational policy / procedure and service delivery
• Evidence of management and leadership development
• Insight into current issues in nursing/professional issues.
• Evidence of working within a neonatal service/area on a regular basis.
• Knowledge of the care and management of Children/young people requiring palliative care

Desirable

• Ability to or working towards competence in obtaining post-mortem consent and compliance with the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regulations.
• Knowledge and understanding of the reporting requirements to external bodies following neonatal loss.

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

Leeds General Infirmary

Great George Street

Leeds

LS1 3EX

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

C9298-CHI-0175