Medical Examiner

Job overview

We are looking to recruit new Medical Examiners to replace retiring colleagues and applications are welcomed from consultant and GP colleagues.

Medical examiners are senior medical doctors, who are trained in the legal and clinical elements of death certification processes.

The Medical Examiners are responsible for the scrutiny of the case-notes of all the deceased patients that are not referred to the coroner. They then liaise with the clinical teams to agree the cause of death to be entered on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death.  Either the ME or MEO will discuss this with the named next of kin and escalate any concerns that they have for further investigation via agreed channels.

The ME is also responsible for highlighting any concerns that they have about the clinical care, feeding into the existing Learning from Deaths process.

The successful applicant will work 1 session (4 hrs ) per week on a fixed Rota - (Medical Examiner - Minimum of 4 hour per week)

Training is via the NHS eLearning website and a face to face or virtual day at the Royal College of Pathologists.  The eLearning modules must be completed prior to the post commencing.

Main duties of the job

Their role includes:

• speaking to the doctor who treated the patient on their final illness
• reviewing the medical records and any supporting diagnostic information
• agreeing the proposed cause of death and the overall accuracy of the medical certificate cause of death
• discussing the cause of death with the next of kin/informant and establishing if they have any concerns with care that could have impacted/led to death
• acting as a medical advice resource for the local coroner
• informing clinical governance systems to highlight deceased patients who require a mortality case record review so any formal learning can be gained by the provider organisation
• ensuring that patterns and concerns about care are raised appropriately
• enabling a medical examiner officer to conduct component parts of the role under delegated author

More detailed information can be found in the attached job description and on the Royal College of Pathologists website https://www.rcpath.org/profession/medical-examiners.html

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job description, Person specification and Specialty/ Trust Brochure for further details on:

• What we can offer
• Job Plan/On-call Requirements
• The Team