Medical Examiner Officer

Job overview

The candidate we are seeking will be a highly motivated, dedicated and innovative individuals, working alongside the Medical Examiners to scrutinise all deaths at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

You will demonstrate excellent knowledge of medical terminology as you review patient notes, along with previous experience of working with bereaved relatives in any setting. You will be working collaboratively with a wide range of staff, in addition to being confident in working under your own initiative to prioritise your workload accordingly.

Join us and you will have the opportunity to further support bereaved families and improve patient safety in a responsive and fluid service which is adaptable to the needs of our hospitals, our communities and our workforce. Demonstrating natural curiosity and empathy you will support the Medical Examiners in their role of scrutinising the circumstances and causes of death for our patients.

To succeed, you’ll need to be committed to delivering high quality care, with compassion and respect, have excellent interpersonal skills and be able to provide evidence of personal and professional development. You’ll also be part of a fantastic and dedicated team that supports each other and operates with consideration and dignity at all times.

Main duties of the job

The Medical Examiner Service has been designed to oversee and support many aspects of the death certification process, providing an independent layer of scrutiny, improving the quality of certification and explaining the cause of death to the bereaved, allowing them to raise any concerns.

The MEO will work with medical examiners to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for deceased patients in East Lancashire.

They will establish the circumstances of individual patient deaths by performing a preliminary review of medical records to identify clinical and circumstantial information, sourcing additional details where required, for scrutiny by the medical examiner. This role is essential to allow efficient functioning of the Medical Examiner service.

The MEO will assist in highlighting cases for assessment by the Mortality Faculty, Structured Judgement Reviews (SJR), Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP), Clinical Governance teams and the Learning Disability Review Teams (LeDeR).

They will assist in referral of patients to the coroner for further investigation on approval by the medical examiner.

Working for our organisation

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the job description:

Working alongside other MEOs to support medical examiners in their role in scrutinising the circumstances and causes of death in accordance with current legislation.

To be a point of contact and source of advice for relatives of deceased patients, healthcare professionals, registration services and the coroner’s office.

To establish the circumstances of individual patient deaths by performing a preliminary review of medical records to identify clinical and circumstantial information, sourcing additional details where required, for scrutiny by the medical examiner.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• • Educated to Batchelor’s degree level or equivalent working knowledge in related field.
• • A commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
• • The ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including the recently bereaved.
• Completed e-learning MEO core training modules

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working with people in sensitive and emotional situations.
• General knowledge of clinical/medical terminology.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of the special requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity of issues around formalities following a death.
• Knowledge of the Coroner & Justice Act 2009 reference to the medical examiner system. Full understanding of the medical examiner system operational remit when incorporated within Bereavement Services or as a stand-alone office.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism with all stakeholders.
• Ability to work as part of a team and organise fluctuating workload around competing priorities.

Desirable criteria

• Competent in the use of IT software systems and handling sensitive personal identifiable data .