Medical Examiner

Job overview

Closing Date due to be 14/05/2025,  Shortlisting due week commencing 19/05/2025,  and Interviews due week commencing 26/05/2025.

The Medical Examiner Service was created by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in response to the Shipman Inquiry. The purpose of the Medical Examiner Service is to provide independent oversight and safeguards for the scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths.

The Trust has an established Medical Examiner Office and is looking to recruit General Practitioners and senior doctors to help support the expansion of the office now that this has become a statutory requirement.

Applications are encouraged from General Practitioners and senior doctors of all specialties, particularly those with experience of working in the community and those who have a broad experience of health care settings to add to our current Medical Examiners.

Medical Examiners are senior medical doctors with 5 years post registration experience. The Medical Examiners are responsible for the scrutiny of the medical records of all the deceased patients that are not referred to the coroner. They discuss the proposed cause of death with clinical teams and they explain the cause of death to the bereaved families, and ascertain if there are any family concerns. Medical Examiners can also help to identify whether a case requires referral to the Coroners Office.

Main duties of the job

Medical examiners (MEs) are appropriately trained (typically senior) doctors who will verify clinical information on Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCDs) and ensure that the right referrals are made to the coroner for further investigation. MEs will take a consistent approach to the formulation of MCCD content, which must be clinically accurate and reflect any discussions with the next of kin/informant. MEs must not have been involved in the care of the deceased patients for deaths they scrutinise.

With the backing of the regional Lead Medical Examiner and local Coroner’s Office there is a collaborative arrangement between Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Both Trusts will have a Lead ME (1.00PA each) and a number of MEs working between organisations.

These appointments will be an expansion of the ME service to provide the scrutiny of all deaths in the catchment areas, including all deaths in the community. Therefore those applications with experience of working in or with all healthcare communities including General practice will be desirable.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To ensure compliance with the legal and procedural requirements associated with the current and proposed reformed processes of certification, investigation by coroners and registration of deaths.
• To scrutinise the certified causes of death offered by attending doctors in a way that is proportionate, consistent and compliant with the proposed national protocol.
• To discuss and explain the cause of death with next of kin/informants in a transparent, tactful and sympathetic manner. It is anticipated that such discussions will be predominately conducted through telephone conversations where barriers to understanding information may exist.
• To ensure that all users of the ME system are treated with respect and are not discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
• To maintain comprehensive records of all deaths scrutinised and undertake analysis to provide information to the National Medical Examiner’s office.
• To participate in relevant clinical governance activities relating to death certification including audits, mortality review processes and investigations regarding formal complaints about patient care.
• To support the training of junior doctors in their understanding of death certification and promote good practice in accurate completion of MCCDs.
• To work with medical examiner officers (MEOs), delegating duties as appropriate.
• To adopt a collaborative working relationship with other MEs by sharing experiences and expertise to support peer learning and set uniform standards of service delivery.
• The timetabling of the duties will be discussed after appointment with the successful candidate and the Lead Medical Examiner
• Support those doctors who call for medical advice on suspected natural causes of death before they prepare an MCCD, and provide general medical advice to the coroner.
• Work with the any other local medical examiner(s) to arrange reciprocal cover for holidays and other periods of absence and also to ensure that there is no potential conflict of interest between the medical examiner and the death being scrutinised.