Regional Medical Examiner - North West | NHS England

As the Regional Lead Medical Examiner for the North West, you will provide leadership and guidance to ensure that the medical examiner system in the North West region operates to the standards required in the statutory system and is governed effectively, advising where necessary on the configuration of local systems.

Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person. You will offer leadership and support to medical examiners in your region, including providing them with an independent professional line of accountability outside of their own organisation where they are employed as a medical examiner.

Reporting to the National Medical Examiner, you will support the national role by ensuring that the medical examiner system in the North West is operating effectively and is meeting the requirements of the statutory system, and update the National team with qualitative information as well as any issues arising. You will also have a dotted line reporting relationship to the relevant NHS England regional medical director and will participate in regional mortality governance arrangements.

To provide professional leadership and guidance to medical examiners within the specified region.

• To act as the representative of the National Medical Examiner within the specified region, including formally deputising on their behalf where required.
• To advise the National Medical Examiner on the operation of the medical examiner system within the North West region and to highlight any issues that require national attention.
• To provide support and guidance where necessary to resolve any local issues that may arise in relation to the running of medical examiner systems.
• To ensure that all medical examiners and medical examiner officers within the region comply with the legal and procedural requirements of the statutory processes of death certification, investigation by coroners and registration of deaths.
• To ensure that all medical examiner offices in the region maintain comprehensive records of all deaths scrutinised and that they undertake the required collection and analysis of information as specified by the National Medical Examiner.
• To provide an independent line of professional accountability for all medical examiners in the region.
• To provide professional advice in complex cases which are not able to be handled at local level in terms of relevant clinical governance activities relating to death certification processes.
• To support local and regional analysis of Medical Certificate Cause of Death information to identify trends, patterns and unusual features of deaths, ensuring that this information is shared across the medical examiner offices with the NHS England region and reported, as required, to the National Medical Examiner’s office.
• To provide information and reports on mortality related issues to the NHS England Regional Medical Director and their team and to participate in regional mortality governance arrangements.
• To link with other programmes that review and investigate deaths (e.g. Child Death Overview Panels, mental health, Learning Disabilities Mortality Reviews, maternal deaths) to ensure appropriate governance and that learning is shared.
• To work with the National Medical Examiner to ensure that best practice and learning themes are shared and embedded between and across regions.
• To link with the National Medical Examiner to share any trends or patterns of concern regarding a locality or an organisation in order to facilitate prompt consideration, investigation and action.
• To adopt a collaborative working relationship with the other regional lead medical examiners and the lead medical examiner for Wales, by sharing experiences and expertise to support peer learning.
• To support and to work effectively with the regional medical examiner officer, delegating duties as appropriate.
• To support the training of junior doctors across the region in their understanding of death certification and promote good practice in accurate completion of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death.
• To undertake site visits to medical examiner offices in their region and to support them to share learning and best practice.

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.