Medical Examiner Officer

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

To support medical examiners and MEOs in their role in scrutinising the circumstances and causes of acute and primary care deaths. To be a point of contact and source of advice for relatives of deceased patients, healthcare professionals, Coroner and registration services, bereavement services and mortuary.

Key Duties/Responsibilities

To work as part of a team to aid medical examiners in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the organisation and wider community.

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).

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 discuss likely content of medical certificate of cause of death with relatives of deceased and in all cases, collect additional information. This may include the need to communicate sensitive information and offer explanations but would be fully supported by the Medical Examiner of the day and Lead MEO.

To ensure any concerns raised by the relatives are dealt with in a timely manner and forwarded to the appropriate support service such as Patient Safety or Patient Experience for further investigation or input.

Demonstrate commitment to IWL principles and flexible working patterns, to meet the needs of the service and staff

Tackle discrimination and harassment, and promote equality and diversity in the workplace

Reduce sickness absence; work place accidents; and promote zero tolerance on violence against staff

Take responsibility for personal development and education and the development of a Personal Development Plan.

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.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Empathetic and self-awareness skills to deal with bereaved families who may have barriers to understanding information due to 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.

The ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service delivery.

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.

Key Result Areas:

Ability to manage conflicting demands, prioritise tasks and deal with queries as they arise.

Identify relatives concerns and escalate them appropriately.

Accurate and timely, preliminary review of medical records to identify clinical and circumstantial information, sourcing additional details where required, for scrutiny by the medical examiner.

Full compliance with secure handling of patient identifiable data is essential.

Proactive and self-motivated

Communications and Key Working Relationships:

Internal

Hospital doctors

Medical Examiners.

Bereavement Support Officers

Service managers, nurses, clinical governance leads, infection control and mortuary.

External

Primary care doctors and practice staff.

HM Coroner and officers.

Spiritual/Faith community leads.

Registrars of births and deaths.

Bereaved relatives, carers and executors/solicitors.

Funeral Directors.

National Medical Examiner.

Regional ME teams.

Control of Infection

Be aware of, and comply with, all Trust infection prevention and control policies, to include hand hygiene, personal hygiene, environmental and food hygiene. To undertake annual training/updates in infection prevention and control.

To be accountable for implementation of Code of Practice within own department/area of responsibility.

The most challenging part of the job

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.

To use a computer for prolonged periods of time daily.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Bachelors degree or evidenced equivalent experience
• Completed e-learning MEO core training modules prior to starting in the post

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with people in sensitive and emotional situations.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the special requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity of issues around formalities following a death.

Skills

Essential

• Ability to work as part of a team and organise fluctuating workload around competing priorities.

Desirable

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

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

Employer details

Employer name

North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

Address

University Hospital of North Tees

Hardwick Road

Stockton on Tees

TS19 8PE

Employer's website

https://www.nth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)