Bereavement Midwife

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust; West of England; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

The Bereavement Midwife will be a practising midwife within the maternity service, leading a multidisciplinary team to provide individualised care for bereaved women and their families. This role sits across the Trust's maternity services and focuses on compassionate, trauma-informed care following loss.

The post involves clinical leadership, education programme development around baby loss, and contributing to guidelines and pathways to improve bereavement care for patients and families.

Qualifications

• Registered midwife with current registration.
• CPD evidence indicating ongoing professional development.
• Post-registration teaching qualification or evidence of teaching ability.

Responsibilities

• Lead and work within the multidisciplinary maternity team.
• Provide specialist bereavement care and practical advice to families after pregnancy loss.
• Develop and deliver education programmes around baby loss and bereavement.
• Contribute to guidelines and pathways for bereavement care within the Trust.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Bereavement care

Communication

Public health & safeguarding

Change management

Education

Registered midwife

CPD evidence

Post-registration teaching qualification

Job description

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) have merged as of 1st July 2026 to become Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. This creates an exciting future that brings together the best of both organisations. As a single, strong and sustainable organisation, we will not only be able to deliver better outcomes for our patients and fairer care for our population, but it will also provide greater opportunities for our people. Bristol NHS Foundation Trust recognise the value of a healthy work-life balance. When applying, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate flexible working, so your work life fits around your home life. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Trust. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) describes algorithms that can be used to produce new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos. It is developing all the time and is now being used as a support mechanism for all kinds of content-based creations. Please note the use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it then they are required to declare this.

Education And Qualifications

Essential criteria

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

Essential criteria

Experience

Essential criteria

Job Overview

The Bereavement Midwife will be a practising midwife who will lead and work as a member of the multidisciplinary team within the maternity service. They will facilitate and provide individualised care to bereaved women and their families.
Main duties of the job
The Bereavement Midwife will have overall responsibility for the provision of specialist care, support and practical advice to women and their families following the loss of their baby through miscarriage, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons, stillbirth, or neonatal death. This is a Trust-wide position.
The Bereavement Midwife will provide clinical leadership within the maternity services and will play an integral part in service delivery and development. They will be pivotal in developing and delivering an education programme around baby loss and bereavement to all health care professionals. They will assist in the development of relevant guidelines and pathways.
The Bereavement Midwife will work closely with the Bereavement Lead Consultant to deliver individualised, trauma-informed antenatal care for women and their families experiencing pregnancy after loss.
The Bereavement Midwife will lead and implement the core principles of the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP).

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

The Bereavement Midwife will demonstrate compassion, empathy and professionalism. They will communicate sensitively and effectively with bereaved families and others. They will demonstrate a strong sense of commitment to openness, honesty and integrity.
The Bereavement Midwife will act as a role model to others, maintaining a visible presence within the unit. They will provide expert advice and support for staff across the Trust who are supporting women and families experiencing pregnancy or baby loss.
The Bereavement Midwife Will Provide Specialist Care, Advice, And Practical Assistance To Women And Families Experiencing Pregnancy Or Baby Loss Including

• Investigations
• Reorientation of care
• Obtaining consent for Perinatal Postmortem examination
• Funeral arrangements
• Registration requirements
• Signposting to external agencies/charitable organisations
• Emotional and psychological support including referrals for counselling and Maternal Loss & Trauma (MaLT) service where appropriate
• Postnatal wellbeing support
• Facilitating appointments for families to visit their baby

Please See The Attached Job Description For Further Details.

Person Specification

Education And Qualifications

• Registered midwife
• Evidence of CPD
• Evidence of post-registration teaching qualification

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Knowledge and understanding of research and evidence-based practice and the application to practice, particularly in relation to bereavement
• Knowledge and understanding of current developments in midwifery
• Knowledge and experience of public health issues including safeguarding
• Evidence of change management skills including advanced clinical skills and knowledge
• Evidence of knowledge and experience of delivery of bad news

Desirable criteria

• Working knowledge of the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT) process

Experience

• Practicing midwife with a minimum five years’ experience in relevant setting
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work cooperatively with the multi-disciplinary team
• Recent experience in bereavement care

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of participating in audit, review and research
• Evidence of successful change management

Personal qualities

• Adaptive and responsive to changing needs
• Motivated and reliable
• Woman centred transformational style of leadership
• A positive attitude, approachable and supportive
• Experience of management of difficult and emotional circumstances

We hope that you will decide to join us and become part of this exciting journey, helping us to shape our future together.

• As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.
• The Trust is committed to investing in and caring for all our staff. We will support you in maintaining and improving your health and wellbeing, as well as your career development through management and training support - developing exceptional people for exceptional careers.
• BFT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
• To comply with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 all applicants must be able to speak fluent English to an appropriate standard which will be assessed at Interview.
• If you require sponsorship for a visa to work in the UK, to avoid disappointment, please check to ensure you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• By applying for this post, you are agreeing to Bristol NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Important

Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or via email. This includes invites for job interviews. We therefore recommend that you regularly check your Trac account and email accounts. We may also contact you by texting the mobile number, if provided, on the application form.
Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date.
Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.
As a guide interviews should usually take place within 3 weeks of the closing date.
When providing employment reference details, please provide correct work-related email addresses so references can be sought promptly when we are looking to progress your application. Your referee must all be known to you in a line manager or professional lead capacity.