What are the responsibilities and job description for the Medical Examiner Officer position at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust?
Job summary
The Medical Examiner Service has been introduced by NHS England to provide independent scrutiny of all deaths that are not investigated by the coroner. The service became statutory in September 2024 to ensure that all deaths that do not automatically require a Coroner referral, are reviewed by the Medical Examiner team and communication with the bereaved is Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Medical Examiner Service is hosted by Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust.
We have vacancies for full time and a part time Medical Examiner Officer to join our team.
Medical Examiner Officers provide administrative support for Medical Examiners in their role in scrutinising the circumstances and cause of death - they also act as a point of contact and source of advice for relatives of deceased patients, healthcare professionals and coroner and registrations services. The successful candidates will have excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills.
Main duties of the job
To support medical examiners in their role in scrutinising the circumstances and causes of death.
To be a point of contact and source of advice for relatives of deceased patients, healthcare professionals, coroner and registration services.
To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patient's death.
To work with Medical Examiners to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients.
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.
To assist in highlighting cases for referral using the governance reporting systems in the Acute Trust, as well as referral using the clinical governance processes for deaths in the community (GP practices), community hospitals, hospices in Cornwall and private health care.
To highlight patients for referral to the coroner for further investigation, after review by the Medical Examiner
To maintain an awareness of the diverse needs of users of the Medical Examiner system to ensure equality to any particular group defined by gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
To assist in the development of the service.
About us
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) is the main provider of acute and specialist care services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We serve a population of around 500,000 people - a figure that can increase significantly with
visitors during the busiest times of the year. We employ approximately 6,700 staff and have a budget of approximately £580 million.
We are a teaching hospital in partnership with the University of Exeter Medical School, University of Plymouth School of Nursing and Midwifery, and Peninsula Dental School.
The Knowledge Spa on the Royal Cornwall Hospital site is the base for medical and nursing as well as ongoing education for health professions in clinical and non-clinical roles.
Keeping at the forefront of medical advances, we are continually developing our clinical services as well as our facilities and are committed to maximising the range of specialist care that can be offered locally. Allied to this is a growing reputation for research and innovation.
Job description
Job responsibilities
PLEASE NOTE : To view the full Job Description and Person Specification, please click the supporting document on the right-hand side.
To be an employee of the NHS you need to successfully complete the following :
Identity Checks
Professional registration and qualification checks
Employment history and reference checks
Occupational Health clearance
Satisfactory
