Nurse for grieving joins coroner’s team
THE country’s first bereavement nurse assigned to a coroner’s office started her new role this week.
The experienced specialist nurse will cover cases from the boroughs of Rochdale, Oldham and Bury.
She will offer support and assistance to all those who have been affected by a death referred to the coroner.
Milly Cooke, a Swan bereavement nurse from The Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, is the first coroner’s office bereavement nurse in England.
Her role will initially run for 12 months as a pilot funded by Rochdale, Oldham and Bury councils and the NHS’s Northern Care Alliance.
Milly’s new role sits within the existing Swan bereavement service and is based at the coroner’s office in Heywood.
The North Manchester coroner’s office dealt with 2,709 deaths in 2017.
Senior Coroner Joanne Kearsley said: “I am really proud that we have taken an innovative step by introducing Milly’s role.
“We want to ensure that everyone impacted is properly supported throughout the process and I am sure Milly’s presence will provide vital support for those affected by the coronial process.”
Milly’s role will see her provide support to close family, friends and witnesses affected by deaths dealt with by the coroner.
It will allow Milly to work with people in a way that needs.
This will include ongoing support through home visits and visits to the Swan bereavement suite at their local hospitals.
To aid families during the grieving process Milly will have access to resources to preserve memories with memory boxes and can also obtain locks of hair, hand and foot prints, or lip kisses at the request of families.
Milly has 26 years of experience in nursing, including 14 years as a Macmillan nurse, and is proud of her new role.
She said: “Everyone, regardless of age, colour and religion, deserves to be cared for with compassion, dignity and respect at the end of their life and in death, as do the people who are left behind to grieve. suits their
“Whether the death is expected or sudden, the moment we have to get it right becomes the memory that lives on for the bereaved. As part of the Swan bereavement team, our role as nurses is to be there for people who may need extra support in the early weeks and months of grief.”