New bereavement centres open

Fiona Murphy MBE

New bereavement centres opened at Rochdale Infirmary and at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, on Thursday 20 July.

The two new centres are located at:

• Rochdale - Swan Suite Bereavement Centre, main entrance.
• Fairfield – Swan Suite Bereavement Centre, entrance three (opposite the General Office).

The opening in Rochdale and Bury follows the opening of two other Bereavement Centres at The Royal Oldham Hospital (in June) and at North Manchester General Hospital (which opened in May).

The bereavement centres came after the Trust adopted the national SWAN end of life care model, which is present in 47 other Trusts up and down the country, and which was set up by Fiona Murphy MBE, Associate Director of Nursing at the Trust.

Ms Murphy  said: “I am really excited and proud to open these two new bereavement centres for the people of Bury and Rochdale, and I am pleased to say that we now have a bereavement centre located at each of Pennine’s four hospitals.

"A great many staff across the Trust, from porters, to nurses, to managers, have all gone above and beyond the call of duty to make sure this vitally important service could get up and running as soon as possible.

"I know that the centres will have a huge impact on the service and support given to those that have lost loved ones at our hospitals.”

The bereavement centres are staffed by fully trained Bereavement Specialist Nurses and each bereavement centre offers the following services:

• The provision of bereavement support to patients and families when death is expected, as well as when death is unexpected
• Compassionate care every time for patients and their families
• Equitable care to every patient regardless of place of death
• Families will get offered the choice for mementoes from their loved one, which will include hand, footprints and locks of hair
• All families will receive the correct information about care after death and receive a follow up call as appropriate from the Bereavement Specialist Nurse
• Bereavement resources for staff to access 24 hours a day seven days a week for patients and families, for example z-beds for relatives to stay overnight, memory boxes, and wedding, birthday, celebration, spiritual care resource boxes
• Care tailored to different faiths and religions.

The Trust will hold monthly bereavement study days for all staff members involved in the delivery of End of Life Care (EoLC) and bereavement. The Bereavement Specialist Nurses will also offer real time coaching to staff working within EoLC/Bereavement to up-skill the workforce.