NICU Sister - Bereavement Lead​/Community

NICU Sister - Bereavement Lead / Community

The closing date is 08 March 2026

Are you a clinically experienced neonatal palliative and bereavement care nurse looking to take your expertise to the next level? We are seeking an exceptional practitioner who brings advanced clinical skills, deep compassion and the confidence to influence high-quality care at some of the most critical moments in a family's life.

In this specialist role, you will act as a senior clinical leader, applying expert decision-making, advanced practice capability and professional judgement far beyond the scope of the general multidisciplinary team. You will be a visible clinical presence, supporting colleagues across neonatal, midwifery and obstetric services while shaping practice standards that place the needs of babies and their families at the centre of every decision.

You will continually evolve your own expert nursing practice and, through effective role modelling, help strengthen the professional development of others. Working in close partnership with neonatal, midwifery and obstetric teams, you will provide authoritative clinical advice, offer specialist leadership and seek out opportunities where innovation, transformation or enhanced pathways can improve experiences and outcomes for parents and their babies.

If you are driven to make a profound difference, committed to excellence in neonatal palliative and bereavement care, and ready to lead with expertise, empathy and vision, we would love to hear from you.

COMMUNICATION

Demonstrate ability to communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and other staff, taking into account the unique and complex psychosocial needs of this patient population.

Effectively utilise communication skills to empower families to make informed decisions.

Diffuse potentially hostile and antagonistic situations with staff, patients and relatives, using highly developed negotiation and interpersonal skills.

Provide expertise and support to nursing and clinical teams in the management of challenging interactions with families when required.

Actively promote the philosophy and vision of the role, regionally and nationally.

Support parents during follow up appointments by advocating for them as required and subsequently reinforcing information and explanations given.

Ensure that there is a clearly defined platform for parent experience feedback, and this is utilised to understand patient need and guide service development.

Demonstrate self-motivation, and the ability to work under own initiative and without direct supervision, being accountable for own actions.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff.

As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.

Participate in Child Death Overview meetings (CDOP) and regionally as required.

Work collaboratively with hospital and local hospices in relation to neonatal palliative care and bereavement Support needs and priorities.

Before and after birth, perinatal health professionals should take active steps to recognise babies who would benefit from palliative care and to integrate this into routine care, participate in fetal medicine meetings.

Represent through attendance and presentation at relevant local, national and international conferences/forums.

Participate in the Annual baby Remembrance Service, Wave of Light, Baby loss Awareness week.

Support the implementation of agreed clinical guidelines, documentation and education strategy produced by East of England Network.

Promote change in nursing and clinical practice in order to…