The Swan Model of Care is a system that helps provide end-of-life and bereavement care. I also lead a staff bereavement support service and I am currently a part-time PhD Student. My role is vital; we really do have only one chance to get end-of-life and bereavement care right for someone.

In my role, I:

• Provide expert advice and support to staff to enable them to deliver good and excellent end-of-life care
• Lead a small team of swan end-of-life care nurses, an admin assistant, and volunteers
• Lead and support projects to improve end-of-life, last hours/days of life care throughout all wards and departments
• Lead on the swan model of care improvements. I am the fund advisor for a charity trust fund, the ‘Swan Fund’
• Deliver and support end-of-life care education sessions to all levels of staff
• Write and support staff to write policies/SOPs and guidance related to end-of-life care and the last hours/days of life care – all things Swan Model of Care
• Support managers with writing responses to complaints and developing action plans to make improvements to care, learning from feedback
• Lead the Swan Model of Care Audit and support staff with audits as required
• Chair the compassionate staff bereavement support steering group and lead the staff bereavement support service, offering one-to-one staff support and staff bereavement support cafes, supported by the admin assistant and two trained volunteers.

On a day in my life in my role, I:

• Attended the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Team huddle
• Dealt with urgent emails and phone calls
• Met with our admin assistant to catch up on all things Swan Model of Care, the Swan Fund, and the staff bereavement support service
• Delivered end-of-life care training to staff
• Visited a ward and talked to staff about an improvement project we are currently working on
• Approved two Swan Fund requests and talked to a Ward Manager about a donation to the Swan Fund, thanking the ward team for their kindness and support during the hardest of times
• Gave advice and support to a staff member over the phone regarding gifting Swan Model of Care resources to people important to the dying person
• Supported a bereaved relative over the telephone and signposted them to the bereavement booklet and bereavement team for next steps
• Arranged two staff bereavement support sessions. And lots more. Love my job, what a privilege.