Deputy Bereavement Midwife

Deputy Bereavement Midwife

The closing date is 28 June 2026.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 6 Deputy Bereavement Midwife to join our team on a fixed term/secondment basis to cover maternity leave. We are looking for an experienced, compassionate midwife who is dedicated to supporting families experiencing bereavement loss, as well as offering specialist bereavement support and training to the multidisciplinary team.

The Deputy Bereavement Midwife will work alongside the Bereavement Lead Midwife within the maternity service and will play an integral part in service delivery and development. The team provides individualised, holistic care to families throughout their journey. The postholder will assist in the collection of data for MBRRACE-UK:
Mothers and Babies:
Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK, and help to feedback recommendations from reports and relevant findings to key groups and implement service delivery changes as required. The Deputy Bereavement Midwife will be involved in the process of coordinating reviews and implementing learning from the national standardised Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT). The postholder will aid and help implement the core principles of the National Bereavement Care pathway.

To be the Midwifery lead in the care of women who have experienced poor pregnancy outcomes during stillbirth, termination for abnormality and neonatal death.

Ensure MBBRACE/CNST standards are met and the service provides care as described by the national bereavement pathway.

Use the PMRT process to provide clinical oversight and review of mortality cases to ensure system wide learning and appropriate care and information for families.

Work with the Screening team to support providing the maternal newborn screening agenda.

Liaise with the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and promote joint working.

Manage and provide continuity of care and support for women and their families.

Facilitate training, advice and support staff involved in the care of these women.

Escalate concerns and issues as they arise, particularly in where patient safety is a risk.

Provide hands on clinical care where practicable.

Key Result Areas:

Bereavement

The post holder will be required to:

• Provide bereavement support and co-ordinate follow up for parents who have experienced pregnancy loss.
• Manage, plan and co-ordinate care for all bereaved clients liaising with MDT, and other statutory/voluntary agencies.
• Ensure the PMRT process is used to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care based on evidence-based practice.
• Liaising with the MDT and external agencies to ensure robust reviews of care in a timely manner, ensuring the MBRRACE/CNST standards are met.
• Working with families to ensure that their voices are heard at each point in their care and the following review process.
• Facilitate the development of all staff including junior medical staff and support workers providing training within specialist field.
• Formulate and implement policies and procedures for the care of bereaved women within the maternity unit.
• Laisse with MDT when questions/feedback/comments/complaints arise in connection with foetal loss.
• Deal personally with women and their families in order to aid resolution of questions/feedback/comments/complaints that are within the midwife scope of practice to answer.
• Lead in setting, monitoring and reviewing standards and procedures for bereavement support that are within the National Bereavement guideline framework.

Screening

The post holder will be required to:

• To support the provision of care of all recommended antenatal screening and Newborn screening tests as specified within the National Screening Committee Standards for Antenatal and Newborn Screening Programmes and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Antenatal Care Guidelines.
• Counselling women and their partners concerning testing and high risk results.
• Giving personalised follow up care to women on an individual needs basis.
• Providing information for patients and ensure that literature is based on nationally accepted standards and that it is available in languages relevant to the locality.

CLINICAL PRACTICE

• Where appropriate, provide care to bereaved women and their families.
• Working with the named Consultant at the follow up clinics for bereaved parents.
• Assessment of women for their on-going emotional support and make the appropriate referrals.
• Ensure the necessary paperwork is completed following delivery i.e. funeral arrangements, CEMACH, CMR, critical incident forms.
• Maintains accurate records regarding perinatal loss within the department.
• Co-ordinate the retrieval of pathological investigations, including post-mortem reports, and ensures the results are available for the follow up appointments.
• Provide specialist advice and training supporting/supervising students and junior medical staff about caring for bereaved women.
• Maintains updating professional knowledge.

PROFESSIONAL…