Bereavement Support Officer

Posting date:	27 January 2026
Salary:	£27,485.00 to £30,162.00 per year
Additional salary information:	£27485.00 - £30162.00 a year
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	24 February 2026
Location:	Durham, DH1 5TW
Company:	NHS Jobs
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	C9439-2526-1474

Summary

Family liaison: To manage and provide expertise, knowledge and co-coordinate a sensitive and sympathetic service for bereaved families/next of kin and to ensure the correct practices are followed, working closely with the Medical Examiner Service. To maintain and protect patient and family confidentiality as per Trust policy. Dealing with bereaved families including support, and signposting to counselling services as required. Receive/deal with complex, highly emotional situations. This includes distressing and demanding situations where family members may be deeply distressed, hysterical, confrontational or even aggressive. Patients / members of the public / bereaved are to be dealt with in a calm and supportive manner. Act as a focal point for collection of medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) by relatives. Key link person between wards, families of the deceased and mortuary; liaison role. Responsible for the day to day running of the bereavement service and be able to confidently resolve any issues arising in order to prevent any delays for families. Listening to concerns raised by families and arranging meetings with medical staff where appropriate, working in parallel with the Medical Examiner Service. Ensure that all possessions of the deceased are ready for collection at the time of relatives appointment liaising with the wards and families. Arrange if requested by the family the disposal of any unwanted property with the ward. Inform relatives of process for collection of property. Co-ordinate an appointment system for bereaved relatives to return to the hospital in order to collect all appropriate paperwork and belongings relating to the deceased. Administration: Ensure accurate and full completion of all paperwork relating to the deceased. Complete all electronic documentation. Arrange and attend a meeting with patients relatives, friends or neighbours to discuss patients documents. Mortuary department: Assist in maintaining adequate capacity in the mortuary by ensuring all paperwork is completed promptly to allow timely release of the deceased. Key role in managing process flow to support deceased documentation and release required to ensure flow of the deceased through the system. Update mortuary when deceased referred to coroner and when families inform us about their choice of funeral director and whether burial or cremation for mortuary register. Liaise with mortuary and pathology staff, making arrangements when a request is made to view the deceased patient. As needed accompany a bereaved family when visiting their loved one in the mortuary. Trust relationships: Support for new staff including medical staff in regards to familiarity with bereavement management process. Training and education for completion of electronic and paper documentation. Liaising with clinical staff in relation to cremation forms and all necessary paperwork where a post mortem is required. To liaise with the Doctors and Medical Examiner checking cremation forms Liaise with the Finance Department to ensure that any money/property of the deceased patient is dealt with efficiently and sensitively. Attend A&E /ward when family are already with the deceased and wanting immediate support/advice. Attend wards to support a patient who has had a recent bereavement Act as liaison for any relatives that wish to speak to the trust chaplaincy team To act as a point of contact and advisor to wards / departments on the procedure for those patients dying in hospital without relatives. Responsible for banding patients money / valuables with the hospital cashiers, where applicable. Liaise with the Pals Team when enquiries are made; and support information for RCAs and process reviews Work closely with the Medical Examiner Service, providing administrative support as required Coroner relationship: Act as the link between the Coroner service and Trust medical staff making referrals. Ensure all referrals to coroner are completed on the New Coroner Portal, ensuring all medical staff and new staff are aware and trained on the use of portal and how to login. Develop and maintain good working relationships with the Coroner & his officers to ensure appropriate information flow between the two organisations. Registrar relationship: Liaise with the Registrar in order to book appointments for relatives to register death. Maintain a good working relationship to ensure continuity of updated information and changes in regulations to the law are adhered to. Following the introduction of the Covid law take responsibility to scan all MCCDs and email to registrar, followed by delivery of original documents to registry office. Funeral Director relationship: To liaise and have a knowledge of local funeral directors in order to inform families of procedure around funeral organisation. Other external agencies: Liaise with appropriate university / ward / mortuary when relatives/other request that a body be donated to medical science. Inform all necessary individuals of the patients death, where appropriate and relevant to do so e.g. GP/community staff, other medical teams previously involved with the patients care. Have an understanding of local availability of Counselling services and act as liaison when such services are requested. Attend and contribute to the multi-agency meeting on behalf of the Trust to continuously improve the end of life journey. Contract and hospital funerals: Ascertain when a contract funeral is required and make necessary arrangements in relation to trust policy. Organise tracing of relatives / significant other, via case notes, GP, local press, ancestry tracing / estate research when dealing with a deceased with no known next of kin. Responsible for all legal paperwork / administration with regards to arranging and executing a contract funeral. Meet with families to obtain the correct documents/complete necessary checks. Approval of Funeral Directors invoices before passing for payment. Generate and maintain systems for storing easily accessible information regarding individual contract funerals to ensure that information can be retrieved as and when required. Accreditation: Understand & be aware of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) codes of practice for Consent, Post Mortem & disposal of tissue. Assist clinical staff to obtain consent for hospital post mortem using appropriate documentation, to meet HTA requirements. Inform families/relatives of the potential need to take tissue samples/organs as part of the post mortem & their rights, under the HTA licence, on how the tissue/organ can be processed following the conclusion of the post mortem findings. As part of the End of Life Team work with CQC during assessment periods. Training and education: Responsible for ensuring all information relating to the bereavement service is up to date on the Trust intranet and information booklets. Update Bereavement booklet as required and arrange print runs with printing company. Distribute booklet to wards to give to relatives. Promote the Bereavement service within the organisation and to external bodies. Attend Trust wide and external events to present the service. Support management with the recruitment and selection process for new staff within the Bereavement and mortuary team and be proactive in developing the service. Attend training on how to obtain consent following HTA standards. Deliver training of new Bereavement staff. Deliver bereavement support training to mortuary staff. To participate in education and support programmes in relation to bereavement care. Implement changes required with organisations due to changes in practice and law. Update mortuary staff, Doctors and Ward staff of these changes. To attend all mandatory training as required by Trust policy.