• Full Time
• London, United Kingdo
• 30,279 – 33,116 £ / Year

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Job Summary

We are looking for a replacement Bereavement Officer to work in the Mortuary and Bereavement department at King’s College Hospital Denmark Hill site.

The post holder will take part in the running of the Bereavement office ensuring high quality and responsive serve, meeting both regulatory and accreditation requirements specifically HTA and UKAS.

The role of Bereavement Officer is interesting and varied. You must be keen to learn as you will play a vital role in developing and improving the service we provide to colleagues and to the bereaved. Working within a supportive team, this is a challenging, but rewarding post.

Main duties of the job

To provide a professional, proactive and sensitive service to bereaved relatives, whilst ensuring the Trust’s statutory obligations are fulfilled. To take part in continuously review practice and develop policies which incorporate national guidance and Human Tissue Authority Legislation. To work closely with other key professionals both within and outside the Trust in order to meet individual needs. To promote an awareness of bereavement issue within a multi faith, multi-cultural environment.

The post holder will work in parallel with the Medical Examiner’s Office and work alongside the Medical Examiners Officers and Medical Examiner to provide a service. To take part in the work of the Bereavement Hub.

You must be able to work independently and as part of a team. You will work closely with relatives of deceased patients, a wide range of healthcare professionals and external stakeholders.

About us

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of £1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and around 14,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in Bromley.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

The trust-wide strategy Strong Roots, Global Reachis our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we can take Team King’s to another level

Job description

Job responsibilities

Working in a busy unpredictable environment, you will require excellent customer service, communication and organisational skills and be computer literate.

Key Responsibilities

• Liaising with both internal and external users of the service, by phone and in person.
• To take part in daily meetings with the bereavement supervisor to discuss daily deaths.
• Provide a high quality service to the bereaved ensuring that all advice and documentation is given in a clear and caring manner.
• To provide the bereaved with the appropriate documentation and offer support and guidance. Information given may be of a highly sensitive nature.
• To assist the bereaved by answering any questions they may raise, arranging for them to speak or contact the most appropriate person or agency. To deal with bereaved persons who may have difficult family situations or circumstances.
• To assist with the arrangement of appointments with the Registrar of Births and Deaths on behalf of the bereaved.
• To take part in arranging and facilitating visits with family members.

Education, training and development

• Assist senior staff with teaching sessions; participate in induction courses for trust staff providing information on bereavement and mortuary services
• Assist senior staff in the production of operational policies, guidance booklets, and other written material for the department. To assist with writing and reviewing of SOPs to ensure that all procedures undertaken, within the department, are covered and updated. To assist in the implementation of administrative and secretarial policies as required.

People Management and Performance

• Exercise considerable degree of initiative when managing the office in the absence of other members of the bereavement team, responding to enquiries, signposting or taking messages as appropriate
• Under the guidance of the bereavement office supervisor, Assistant Service Manager or Service Manager, to participate in the registration of deaths and arranging funerals, as appropriate.

Person Specification

Education & Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to GCSE level A-C grade or equivalent including English and Maths
• IT literate, with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office software RSA 2 word processing / typing or equivalent.

Desirable

• Customer service NVQ level 3 or equivalent demonstrable skills
• Bereavement Counselling

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with the public.
• Proven experience of working in a stressful environment, with an unpredictable workload, and dealing with traumatic situations if they arise

Desirable

• Good knowledge of medical terminology

Skills & Competencies

Essential

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, demonstrating influencing skills and the ability to listen
• Ability to communicate non-clinical advice to members of the public in a sensitive and tactful manner
• Ability to deal tactfully and efficiently with the bereaved and members of the public, maintaining patient confidentiality at all times
• Ability to liaise effectively with all levels of staff
• To be able to identify when a family is in immediate need of bereavement support
• Ability to compose letters of a consistently high quality to both internal staff and external agencies
• Able to deal with the emotional aspects of the bereavement services
• Ability to handle patient data and information in a confidential and sensitive fashion.
• Ability to prioritise work and meet deadlines

Desirable

• Ability to develop and write Standard Operating Procedures and Policies

Other

Essential

• Reliable, diplomatic, confident and credible with a good attendance record A strong sense of personal and team accountability coupled to a clear understanding of the boundaries around delegated authority
• Commitment to change management to develop more innovative ways of working to improve service delivery
• A strong sense of personal and team accountability coupled to a clear understanding of the boundaries around delegated authority

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Closing Date: 28 March 2024