Hospital trust announces new role to help bereaved families after rise in child deaths in Wolverhampton

Vicky Griffiths has been appointed as The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s first specialist nurse for child deaths.

Based at the Gem Centre in Wednesfield as part of the 0-19 Service, Vicky’s role has been created following an increase in the number of child deaths in Wolverhampton.

A former neonatal nurse at New Cross Hospital, Vicky has been a health visitor for 10 years for Shropshire Community Health in Telford.

She was a Care of the Next Infant (CONI) co-ordinator, which is a national programme of support for families having subsequent children after a sudden infant death.

The role is needed as the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and the Child Death Review Statutory and Operational Guidance (England) 2018 recommends a key worker is assigned to all families where there has been a loss of a child.

It also recommends this key worker be the single named point of contact, who can provide information on the child death review process and who can signpost families to sources of support.

Up until now, the work Vicky is doing has been undertaken by other healthcare professionals and outside services, community and GPs.

Her arrival will ensure more focused and dedicated support is provided.

“As soon as a child dies, my support will begin,” said Vicky.

“When families are going through something as traumatic as a child death, I want to make the experience and the process that follows – which they have very little control over – a little less painful and as gentle and as positive as it can be.

“A postmortem may be required to establish a cause of death, and in these cases, a death certificate cannot be issued which in turn means a funeral cannot be arranged. This can be very distressing for families.

“My role will be to help the families make memories and spend time with their child according to their wishes.

“The support offered will be ongoing – whether the offer is accepted first time, or even not at all. There’s no end point because of the nature of grief; at one-point families might not want support but then later on they might.

“My role is about keeping families informed, giving them a voice and making them feel involved in the process. I will be a point of contact regarding any questions they may have and represent their voice in the child death review process and also keep them updated along the way.”

Wolverhampton is part of the Black Country Child Death Overview Panel, which means all deaths are reviewed at a local then regional level to identify any common themes, any factors people can take to minimise risks and ultimately any learning to try to prevent future deaths.

Vicky will also be involved in the learning process from previous cases once criminal proceedings have concluded.