Job summary
Full Time - 37.5 hours per week
The Medical Examiner Service at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust has an opportunity for an enthusiastic, motivated and flexible individual looking for a challenge in a post that is both interesting and varied to join our team.
The service operates flexibly over 5 days a week. You should have the ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service, including covering for colleagues during absence and annual leave.
The post holder will be tasked with leadership of the Medical Examiner Officers and will be able to drive forward the service to fit the needs of the people of Bolton.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will assist the lead Medical Examiner (ME) to implement and roll out the service across the health economy, analysing and evaluating the service.
The Lead MEO will produce and present analytical reports, guidance policy and SOPS with the support of the Lead ME sharing these with the Trust to enhance learning.
Provide leadership, line management, budget responsibility and training for medical examiners officers ensuring there is cover for the medical examiner office (MEO)at all times and for planned leave the MEO will also 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 and coroner and registration services.
About us
ere at Bolton our patients are at the heart of everything we do. We ensure our patients receive the highest quality of Care and are guided by our Trust Values. We are proud that our Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This is in recognition of the patient experience and quality of care that our staff provide to patients. It is also supported by our Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professional Framework for Professional Practice.
The aims of this Trust are to improve the health of our people and provide the best possible care to the population in which we serve and ensure that our staff have joy and pride in their work. We are striving to recruit a workforce that reflects the communities in which we serve. Staff are valued and we can offer excellent opportunities for further training and development.
The vision of this Trust is to be recognised by the people of Bolton and beyond as an excellent provider of health and care services and a great place to work. We are striving to attract, recruit and retain high calibre staff which reflect our communities. We are an inclusive employer who trains and develops our staff in a positive learning environment. We aim to be inclusive and therefore applications form all sectors of the community are welcomed.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- The post holder will assist the Lead Medical Examiner to implement and roll out the service across the health economy, analysing and evaluating the service.
- Provide leadership, line management of the medical examiner officer , budget responsibility and training for medical examiners officers ensuring there is cover for the medical examiner office at all times and for planned leave
- To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patients death or care before death.
- Work with medical examiners to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the organisation.
- 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 assessment by the Structured Judgement Review team (SJR), Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP), Clinical Governance teams and the Learning Disability Review Teams (LeDeR).
- To refer patients to the coroner for further investigation on approval by the Medical Examiner.
- Maintain an awareness of the diverse needs of users of the Medical Examiner service to ensure equality to any particular group defined by sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
- To produce and present analytical reports, guidance policy and SOPS with the support of the Lead ME sharing these with the Trust to enhance learning.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required:
- Educated to Batchelors degree level, or evidence of study/equivalent practical experience at an advanced level; this might include nursing and/or other clinical experience.
- To have qualifications/skills in day-to-day operational/process management of a customer-facing service where users may have unpredictable and emotionally charged needs.
- Highly evolved empathy and self-awareness skills to deal with bereaved families who may have barriers to understanding information due to their grief or disability.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- 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 service aligns with other related organisations and NHS initiatives.
- The ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service delivery.
- Specialist knowledge of various faith groups funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
- Computer literate to use multiple IT software for recording personal identifiable data and producing statistical information for the National Medical Examiners office and Public Health surveillance.
- Analytical skills, report writing and presenting skills
- Human Resource knowledge and experience including roster management, attendance management, training and development.
Key Result Areas:
- Be able to deal with conflicting demands, prioritise tasks and deal with queries as they arise.
- Identify relatives concerns and escalate them appropriately.
- Full compliance with secure handling of patient identifiable data is essential.
- Contribute to and review departmental policies and procedures to reflect best practice in the delivery of a medical examiner system.
- Produce and write analytical reports for the service and present to relevant staff
- Deliver training to hospital and community staff across the health economy.
Most Challenging Part of The Role:
- Regular interaction with the bereaved relatives in person or over the telephone. The post holder must have the ability to demonstrate empathy and remain professional at all times.
Physical Effort and Working Conditions:
- There is significant emotional effort associated with dealing with bereaved families on a day to day basis .
- To use a computer for prolonged periods of time daily.
Communication and Relationship Skills
- Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism with all stakeholders.
- Assist in maintaining an effective communication network; written, verbal and electronic, informing senior staff of all matters outside your role/sphere of competence; cascading information to more junior staff.
- Develops and maintain communication with people about difficult matters or difficult situations, in an appropriate, supportive and empathic manner.
Analytical and Judgmental Skills
- Complete documentation on untoward incidents, produce reports as requested by line managers, and take part in Clinical Audit review.
- Participates in audit and evaluation programmes as requested.
- Use results from audits and any other data collection tools to influence and celebrate yours and others practice.
Responsibilities For Policy And Service Development
- Work the Regional and national MEO to maintaining data and reports requested by NHS England
- Attend meeting both local, regional and national developing network support with other MEO
Research And Development
- Comply with, and contribute to, quality standards and guidelines, and take part in Clinical Governance, CNST and Research and Development initiatives.
Health, Safety And Security:
- All employees have a duty to report any accidents, complaints, defects in equipment, near misses and untoward incidents, following Trust procedure.
- To ensure that Health and Safety legislation is complied with at all times, including COSHH, Workplace Risk Assessment and Control of Infection.
Confidentiality:
- Working within the Trust you may gain knowledge of confidential matters which may include personal and medical information about patients and staff. Such information must be considered strictly confidential and must not be discussed or disclosed. Failure to observe this confidentiality could lead to disciplinary action being taken against you.
Data Quality
- All employees are reminded about the importance of data quality and staff should make themselves aware of both departmental and corporate objectives for data quality.
- Data quality forms part of the appraisal and objective setting process for staff responsible for data entry and data production; staff should ensure that they adhere to policies and procedures at all times. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action being taken.
Codes Of Conduct And Accountability:
- You are expected to comply with relevant Bolton NHS Foundation Trust codes of conduct and accountability.
Infection Prevention And Control:
- You must comply with all relevant policies, procedures and training on infection prevention and control.
Safeguarding Children And Vulnerable Adults:
- You must comply with all relevant policies, procedures and training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
Valuing Diversity And Promoting Equality:
- You must comply with all relevant policies, procedures and training on valuing diversity and promoting equality.
Training:
- Managers are required to take responsibility for their own and their staffs development.
- All employees have a duty to complete all mandatory training sessions as required by the Trust.
Any other general requirements as appropriate to the post and location
The range of duties and responsibilities outlined above are indicative only and are intended to give a broad flavour of the range and type of duties that will be allocated. They are subject to modification in the light of changing service demands and the development requirements of the postholder.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- The post holder will assist the Lead Medical Examiner to implement and roll out the service across the health economy, analysing and evaluating the service.
- Provide leadership, line management of the medical examiner officer , budget responsibility and training for medical examiners officers ensuring there is cover for the medical examiner office at all times and for planned leave
- To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patients death or care before death.
- Work with medical examiners to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the organisation.
- 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 assessment by the Structured Judgement Review team (SJR), Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP), Clinical Governance teams and the Learning Disability Review Teams (LeDeR).
- To refer patients to the coroner for further investigation on approval by the Medical Examiner.
- Maintain an awareness of the diverse needs of users of the Medical Examiner service to ensure equality to any particular group defined by sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
- To produce and present analytical reports, guidance policy and SOPS with the support of the Lead ME sharing these with the Trust to enhance learning.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required:
- Educated to Batchelors degree level, or evidence of study/equivalent practical experience at an advanced level; this might include nursing and/or other clinical experience.
- To have qualifications/skills in day-to-day operational/process management of a customer-facing service where users may have unpredictable and emotionally charged needs.
- Highly evolved empathy and self-awareness skills to deal with bereaved families who may have barriers to understanding information due to their grief or disability.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- 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 service aligns with other related organisations and NHS initiatives.
- The ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service delivery.
- Specialist knowledge of various faith groups funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
- Computer literate to use multiple IT software for recording personal identifiable data and producing statistical information for the National Medical Examiners office and Public Health surveillance.
- Analytical skills, report writing and presenting skills
- Human Resource knowledge and experience including roster management, attendance management, training and development.
Key Result Areas:
- Be able to deal with conflicting demands, prioritise tasks and deal with queries as they arise.
- Identify relatives concerns and escalate them appropriately.
- Full compliance with secure handling of patient identifiable data is essential.
- Contribute to and review departmental policies and procedures to reflect best practice in the delivery of a medical examiner system.
- Produce and write analytical reports for the service and present to relevant staff
- Deliver training to hospital and community staff across the health economy.
Most Challenging Part of The Role:
- Regular interaction with the bereaved relatives in person or over the telephone. The post holder must have the ability to demonstrate empathy and remain professional at all times.
Physical Effort and Working Conditions:
- There is significant emotional effort associated with dealing with bereaved families on a day to day basis .
- To use a computer for prolonged periods of time daily.
Communication and Relationship Skills
- Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism with all stakeholders.
- Assist in maintaining an effective communication network; written, verbal and electronic, informing senior staff of all matters outside your role/sphere of competence; cascading information to more junior staff.
- Develops and maintain communication with people about difficult matters or difficult situations, in an appropriate, supportive and empathic manner.
Analytical and Judgmental Skills
- Complete documentation on untoward incidents, produce reports as requested by line managers, and take part in Clinical Audit review.
- Participates in audit and evaluation programmes as requested.
- Use results from audits and any other data collection tools to influence and celebrate yours and others practice.
Responsibilities For Policy And Service Development
- Work the Regional and national MEO to maintaining data and reports requested by NHS England
- Attend meeting both local, regional and national developing network support with other MEO
Research And Development
- Comply with, and contribute to, quality standards and guidelines, and take part in Clinical Governance, CNST and Research and Development initiatives.
Health, Safety And Security:
- All employees have a duty to report any accidents, complaints, defects in equipment, near misses and untoward incidents, following Trust procedure.
- To ensure that Health and Safety legislation is complied with at all times, including COSHH, Workplace Risk Assessment and Control of Infection.
Confidentiality:
- Working within the Trust you may gain knowledge of confidential matters which may include personal and medical information about patients and staff. Such information must be considered strictly confidential and must not be discussed or disclosed. Failure to observe this confidentiality could lead to disciplinary action being taken against you.
Data Quality
- All employees are reminded about the importance of data quality and staff should make themselves aware of both departmental and corporate objectives for data quality.
- Data quality forms part of the appraisal and objective setting process for staff responsible for data entry and data production; staff should ensure that they adhere to policies and procedures at all times. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action being taken.
Codes Of Conduct And Accountability:
- You are expected to comply with relevant Bolton NHS Foundation Trust codes of conduct and accountability.
Infection Prevention And Control:
- You must comply with all relevant policies, procedures and training on infection prevention and control.
Safeguarding Children And Vulnerable Adults:
- You must comply with all relevant policies, procedures and training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
Valuing Diversity And Promoting Equality:
- You must comply with all relevant policies, procedures and training on valuing diversity and promoting equality.
Training:
- Managers are required to take responsibility for their own and their staffs development.
- All employees have a duty to complete all mandatory training sessions as required by the Trust.
Any other general requirements as appropriate to the post and location
The range of duties and responsibilities outlined above are indicative only and are intended to give a broad flavour of the range and type of duties that will be allocated. They are subject to modification in the light of changing service demands and the development requirements of the postholder.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- oRelevant working knowledge in a related field
- oCommitment to lifelong learning and PPD
- oAbility to lead and develop a service
- oAbility to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders including bereaved families
Desirable
- oCompletion of MEO core training modules including face to face training & portfolio
- oEducated to Batchelors degree level
Experience
Essential
- oExperience working with bereaved families in sensitive and emotional situations
- oManaging a team
Desirable
- oexperience working in a healthcare setting with multidisciplinary teams across organisational boundaries
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- oRelevant working knowledge in a related field
- oCommitment to lifelong learning and PPD
- oAbility to lead and develop a service
- oAbility to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders including bereaved families
Desirable
- oCompletion of MEO core training modules including face to face training & portfolio
- oEducated to Batchelors degree level
Experience
Essential
- oExperience working with bereaved families in sensitive and emotional situations
- oManaging a team
Desirable
- oexperience working in a healthcare setting with multidisciplinary teams across organisational boundaries
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
