Bereavement centre now open at hospital

OPENING of new bereavement centre at Royal Oldham Hospital by Simon Nelson, retired senior coroner for Oldham, Rochdale and Bury

COMPASSIONATE care and services will be provided to families who have lost a loved one at the Royal Oldham Hospital following the opening of a new bereavement centre.

The new centre, at the Chalmers Keddie Building, was officially opened to the public on June 8, with the ceremony attended by retired Senior Coroner, Simon Nelson, Nicola Firth, Director of Nursing at The Royal Oldham Hospital; and Mr Jawad Husain, Medical Director at The Royal Oldham Hospital.

Prior to the new centre opening, the Trust did not have a dedicated bereavement service and all bereavement issues were handled through the General Office.

Trained

The new centre has been designed to greatly improve the experience of patients and families following the death of a loved one and is staffed by a fully trained Bereavement Specialist Nurse.

Fiona Murphy MBE, Associate Director of Nursing at the Trust, said: "I am really excited and proud to open this new Bereavement Centre at The Royal Oldham Hospital.

"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 centre will have a huge impact on the service and support given to those that have lost a loved one at The Royal Oldham Hospital."

The Bereavement Centre at The Royal Oldham Hospital is the second of four new Bereavement Centres to open at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Bereavement Centre at North Manchester General Hospital opened last month and the others located at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury and Rochdale Infirmary will open soon at dates to be confirmed.

The investment in dedicated new 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, which was set up by Fiona Murphy MBE.

Each Bereavement Centre will be offering support and compassionate care to patients and families when death is expected, as well as when death is unexpected

Families will also be offered the choice for mementoes from their loved one, which will include hand, footprints and locks of hair.

The correct information about care after death will also be provided to families and they will receive a follow up call as appropriate from the Bereavement Specialist Nurse.

Study

Bereavement resources will be available for staff to access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for patients and families, including z-beds for relatives to stay overnight, memory boxes, and wedding, birthday, celebration, spiritual care resource boxes.

In addition 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 be offering real time coaching to staff working within EoLC/Bereavement in order to up skill the workforce.