End of Life Care, Memory Making Facilitator (Adult)

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Norwich; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS hospital is seeking an End-of-Life Care Memory Making Facilitator to provide emotional support and facilitate memory-making for patients and their families during the challenging end-of-life stages. Key responsibilities include coordinating personalized memory-making activities and collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team to ensure compassionate care. Candidates should have relevant healthcare qualifications and experience in providing emotional support.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Discounted gym memberships

Excellent pension scheme

Free counseling support

Qualifications

• Experience in providing emotional support to patients and families.
• Ability to coordinate memory-making activities.
• Strong communication skills to guide families through the process.

Responsibilities

• Provide emotional support to patients in final days.
• Coordinate memory-making initiatives.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams.

Skills

Emotional support

Compassion

Coordination

Communication

Education

Relevant healthcare qualifications

Job description

Overview

The End-of-Life Care Memory Making Facilitator plays a key role within the Specialist Palliative and End-of-Life Care Team at NNUH, supporting patients, families, and staff through the process of dying, death, and bereavement. The post-holder provides emotional support and facilitates personalised memory-making, helping to create meaningful legacies during a profoundly difficult time.

As a member of the multidisciplinary hospital-based Specialist Palliative Care Team focusing on End-of-Life Care, this practitioner will act as a resource to other health care professionals in supporting patients and families with memory making at end of life and into bereavement. To assess patients\' needs holistically and provide support at end of life focusing on \"what matters most\" to them and their support network.

This post may involve participating in weekend and bank holiday working. Hours of working are 9 - 5 (can be flexible). You will oversee and guide the memory-making volunteers, ensuring that patients and their families have consistent access to this service seven days a week. In addition, the role will involve providing training to volunteers and contributing to the ongoing development of the service.

The End-of-Life Care team works in close partnership with several specialised teams, including the Butterfly Volunteers, the Bereavement Team, Mortuary Services, the Spiritual Healthcare Team, and the Fast Track Team. Together, they ensure that patients and their families receive holistic, compassionate, and seamless care during the final stages of life.

Responsibilities

• Offer direct emotional support to patients in the final days and hours of life, working alongside the multi-disciplinary team.
• Be a calm, compassionate presence for relatives and carers, offering comfort, information, and guidance during the dying process.
• Assist with family presence at the bedside, providing emotional support before, during, and after death.
• Coordinate and create personalised memory-making activities such as handprints, keepsakes, and legacy letters, in line with family wishes and hospital policy.
• Collaborate with ward teams to ensure memory-making is sensitively integrated into end-of-life care planning.
• Oversee and guide the memory-making volunteers, ensuring that patients and their families have consistent access to this service seven days a week. In addition, the role will involve providing training to volunteers and contributing to the ongoing development of the service.
• Work closely with the Butterfly Volunteers, the bereavement team, the mortuary, the spiritual healthcare team, Fast Track team, medical and nursing staff, multi-disciplinary team, and Heads of Department within the Directorate.
• Ensure all memory-making and legacy work is conducted with consent, respect, and cultural sensitivity.
• Liaise with the N&N Hospitals Charity to develop/grow in-memory and legacy giving activities.
• Serve as a key point of contact for families, ensuring clear, compassionate communication between them and the clinical team.
• Advocate for dignity, respect, and choice in the care of dying patients, supporting Advance Care Planning where appropriate.
• Signpost bereaved families to post-death support services within the Trust and in the community.
• Advocacy: Advocate for patient rights and ensure that care delivered respects the cultural, spiritual, and personal values of the patient and their family.
• Quality Improvement: Support the End-of-life care team with initiatives aimed at improving the quality of end-of-life care services, including the development and implementation of new protocols and care models.

If you are considering applying for this post on a secondment basis, please discuss with your Line Manager prior to applying to ascertain whether this could be supported.

Please note that this advertised position, which is part of occupation code 2273 does not meet the UKVI eligibility requirements for a Skilled Worker Visa. The Trust would not be able to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for this role.

The Job Description, which includes a Person Specification, provides a full outline of responsibilities and requirements for this role. Please use your supporting statement to demonstrate how you meet the person specification.

Visa and Immigration: If you are wishing to apply for this role and would require sponsorship (this includes if you are already in a sponsored post and looking to change employer), you can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this post by assessing your circumstances against criteria specified on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-job.

Travelling to work

• Staff parking is available onsite; however, this is limited during core working hours. We have more capacity in the evening and at weekends and can usually provide spaces during those hours.
• We look to allocate these spaces fairly. Our Travel Office have a set of criteria that staff must meet in order to qualify. If you qualify for a space, you may be placed on a waiting list if we are at full capacity.
• The NNUH is served by a number of public buses, and we offer generously discounted monthly passes with First Bus & Konect.
• The Costessey Park and Ride runs regularly each day from 06:30 (from P&R) to 20:45 (from NNUH) and this service is free for NHS staff. There is a regular Thickthorn P&R service as well which is free. Applications to the Travel Office are required for this service. We also have a discounted service from the airport P&R if you purchase a bundle. Please see Konect website for further details.
• The NNUH host multiple bicycle racks and a salary sacrifice scheme. We also benefit from a Beryl station onsite.
• If you work at another Trust site, please discuss travel and parking arrangements at interview.

DBS: If this post involves working with children or adults the application form will ask for information regarding previous convictions as you will be required to undertake a Criminal Record and Barring Check known as a DBS check. If you are a new employee or registering with the Staff Bank you will need to meet the cost of this unless your salary is less than point 9 of Afc.

NHS Service: Should you be appointed to the post we will need to establish any previous NHS service via the ESR IAT and we will accept the submission of your application as your agreement to this.

UK Registration: You will need to have current UK professional registration where this is a requirement of the role.

Application: Following candidate feedback and to reduce our dependency on paper, all our communication with you regarding your application will be by email so could you please check your e-mails (and Spam) regularly.

We value equality in our team and recruit from all sections of the community. We recognise there is a wealth of talent among people who have a disability and if you meet the minimum criteria detailed in the person specification and have a disability, you may wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme by indicating this in the relevant section on your application.

We look forward to receiving your application and if you do not hear within the next four weeks this will usually mean that you have not been short-listed. However, if you wish to confirm this please contact the person indicated on the advert.

Flexibility: While every effort will be made to recruit to the post as it is advertised, there may be occasions where we consider alternative working patterns, such as part time working, or contract types, such as secondments, depending on circumstances. Should you wish to work in a different working pattern to that stated in our advertisement, please indicate this in the supporting statement to your application.

At NNUH it is our privilege to provide healthcare to over one million people across Norfolk and surrounding areas. Our vision is to \"provide the best care for every patient\", and if this inspires you and you share our values, we really want you to join our team.

NNUH is currently the busiest Trauma Unit in the East of England caring for almost 850 trauma patients annually many with complex care needs. We are enhancing our urgent and emergency care specialist services for patients with significant injuries as a result of trauma and have an ambition to become a Major Trauma Centre.

Our values support our vision and guide the behaviour of everything we do, these are:
People-focused: We look after the needs of our patients, carers and colleagues, to provide a safe and caring experience for all.

Respect: We act with care, compassion and kindness and value others\' diverse needs.

Integrity: We take an honest, open and ethical approach to everything we do.

Dedication: We work as one team and support each other to maintain the highest professional standards.

Excellence: We continuously learn and improve to achieve the best outcomes for our patients and our hospital.

Join us at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and be part of a workforce of over 10,000 staff!

The NNUH is one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK, providing first-class acute care for around one million people, living in Norfolk and surrounding areas. We are a teaching and research hospital, at the forefront of innovation, home to state-of-the-art facilities, such as the Quadram Institute. We are pleased to work closely with the University of East Anglia, providing teaching opportunities for our staff and placement opportunities for their students. We attract some of the best and leading professionals from across the country and are proud that our workforce represents 94 countries from across the world.

We are a friendly, collaborative hospital, working with local services and home to N&N Hospitals Charity.

We can offer you the full range of NHS benefits/discounts and in addition:

• Flexible working hours
• Fast Track Staff Physiotherapy Service
• Multi Faith prayer room at NNUH Colney Lane site
• Discounted gym memberships
• Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement
• Wagestream - access up to 40% of your pay as you earn it
• Free Park & Ride service direct to NNUH Colney Lane site
• Free 24-hours confidential counselling support
• On-site Nursery at NNUH Colney Lane
• On-site cafes offering staff discounts at NNUH Colney Lane
• Support in career development
• Flexible staff bank
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars, Cycle to Work scheme and home electronics