The Mersey & West Lancashire (MWL) Medical Examiner Service, based at Whiston Hospital, are very excited to be extending our service and we are looking for an excellent Medical Examiner Officer to play a key role in our ongoing development. The Medical Examiner service is fundamental to supporting the bereaved, ensuring consistency and accuracy in death certification and promoting continuous learning. If you feel strongly about providing outstanding services to our community then we would like to hear from you.
Our ME service was established in 2021 to provide independent scrutiny of the circumstances and causes of in-hospital and Willowbrook Hospice deaths to support families with empathy and understanding through this process. We have now extended our service to include deaths that have occurred in the community. To make this a success we are looking to recruit an additional Medical Examiner Officers (MEO) to join our existing team.
Interview Date - Week commencing 12th May 2025
KEY DUTIES
* Work with Medical Examiners and the Lead Medical Examiner's Officer to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the locality.
* 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, highlighting to the Medical Examiner any inconsistencies or areas of concern noted.
* To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patients death.
* To liaise with the bereavement team as required in relation to keeping the bereaved informed and arrangements to issue the death certificate to them.
* To be able to work on his/her own initiative, referring to the Lead Medical Examiner Officer when necessary.
CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
* Maintain an awareness of the diverse needs of users of the medical examiner system to ensure equality to any particular group defined by sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
* To assist in highlighting cases for assessment by the Structured Judgement Review team (SJR), Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP), Clinical Governance teams and the Learning Disability Review Teams (LeDeR).
* Exercise judgment regarding concerns raised by relatives, which may be complex, to decide which of the escalation options available are most appropriate i.e. Coroner Referral, SJR, PALS.
* Highly evolved empathetic and self-awareness skills to deal with bereaved families who may have barriers to understanding information due to their grief or disability.
* To have an understanding of medical terminology that enables informed discussions about causes/ circumstances of death with bereaved families, clinicians, coroner and registration service staff.
* Knowledge of the statutory process around death certification legal frameworks and how the medical examiner system aligns with other related organisations and NHS initiatives.
* Be able to juggle conflicting demands, prioritise tasks and deal with queries as they arise.
* Specialist knowledge of various faith groups funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
* The ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service.
* Work closely with the Medical Examiner in relation to delegated duties, under the supervision of the Lead Medical Examiner's Officer.
* Provide support, information and explanations around the statutory requirements for Coroners referrals possible outcomes i.e. post-mortems, inquests, and the procedures for the release of the deceased.
* To be aware of the Safeguarding Adult and Child frameworks and processes and liaise as required.
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
* To utilise the Trusts data systems and those of community partners to access all relevant records including EPR, PACS, ICE, EDMS, EMIS, SystemOne and Datix.
* To utilise and maintain the Medical Examiner Service database and support the implementation of the National Medical Examiner database.
* Keep accurate and contemporaneous records.
* In liaison with the Bereavement Team to provide information to the family and visitors regarding the arrangements to be made following the death.
* To observe arrangements for storing records of medical examiner scrutiny comply with relevant data protection legislation and the policies of the trust where the medical examiner office is based.
COMMUNICATION / KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
INTERNAL
* Hospital doctors
* Medical Examiners
* Service managers.
* Nurses
* Safeguarding Team
* Clinical Governance Leads
* Mortuary staff
EXTERNAL
* HM Coroner and officers
* Spiritual/Faith community leads
* Registrars of births and deaths
* GPs and practice staff
* Bereaved relatives, carers and executors/solicitors.
* Funeral Directors
* National Medical Examiner
* Regional leads for ME system
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES
* To provide training in all aspects of the role as necessary to less experienced members of staff.
* Attend appropriate training and education sessions at the request of the manager.
RESEARCH & AUDIT
* All Trust employees have a responsibility to support research and audit as required.
* To contribute to and review departmental policies and procedures to reflect best practice in the delivery of an independent medical examiner system.
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