Senior Lead Medical Examiner Officer in Bedford

To support medical examiners (ME) 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. To manage the ME Office staff, cross-site, to ensure that the office is appropriately staffed within the agreed hours of operation. The post holder has leadership and management responsibility for the operation and continuous evaluation of the Independent Medical Examiner Service hosted by the Trust. This includes coordination of the delivery of the Medical Examiner Service with the Lead Medical Examiner Officers and the Lead Medical Examiner (who retains professional responsibility for Medical Examiners); working closely with the Medical Examiners; management of the Medical Examiner Officers, liaison with the Mortuary and Bereavement Service Manager and Bereavement Officers and coordination with the Coroner and Registration Service in the Local Authorities in the area served by the ME Service.

Main duties of the job

• To act as a point of contact and liaison for families and carers where a death is referred to the SJR process or RCA commissioned related to the death.
• Interact with families and carers on a daily basis in a highly sensitive environment where the family may not be willing to accept the information that has been provided, communicating with relatives in a respectful, sensitive and compassionate manner.
• Explaining outcomes using well developed interpersonal skills where relatives may be highly emotional and antagonistic.
• Ensure that families and carers viewpoints are represented and they are involved in process if wished; receive timely, responsive contact and support in all aspects of the SJR process – Assist in feeding back SJR reports or RCAs for families and carers of bereaved if requested.
• Responsible and ownership for the planning, organising and improvement process of death certification and referrals to the Coroner. To adjust plans as circumstances change, making recommendations as necessary.

About us

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience – we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trust’s core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarise yourself with all requirements of the job.

Job responsibilities

• To be responsible for the management and leadership of the Medical Examiner Officers across the Trust; including managing sickness and absence, appraisals, performance management, training, and development.
• To offer support and pastoral care to families and colleagues and to facilitate effective communication between families and health care professionals alongside Bereavement Office staff.
• Communicate by telephone, over email and face to face with families, carers, clinical teams, in relation to mortality case records reviews and associated quality improvement.
• Provide advice and support to families, carers and staff on the Learning from Deaths programme and related processes.
• To carry out the initial screening of medical notes of deceased patients to identify cases that clearly require referral to the Coroner.
• To work with the Medical Examiner to ensure proper and proportionate scrutiny of medical notes.
• To act autonomously in reporting cases to HM Coroner when medical staff/Medical Examiner are not available.
• To manage own workload ensuring project timescales are adhered to.
• To discuss content of medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) with relatives of deceased and in all cases, collect additional information. This may include the need to communicate sensitive information and offer explanations.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Educated to Bachelor’s degree level or equivalent working knowledge in related field.
• Completion of e-learning MEO core training modules.

Experience

• A commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
• Experience of working with people in sensitive and emotional situations.
• General knowledge of clinical/medical terminology.
• Knowledge of the Coroner & Justice Act 2009 reference to the medical examiner system.
• Full understanding of the medical examiner system operational remit when incorporated within Bereavement Services or as a stand-alone office.
• Experience of working in a healthcare setting with multi-disciplinary teams across organisational boundaries.
• Knowledge of the special requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity of issues around formalities following a death.

Skills

• The ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including the recently bereaved.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of leading a small team.
• Ability to work as part of a team and organise fluctuating workload around competing priorities.
• Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to be flexible to the needs of the service.
• Ability to maintain a calm manner in a range of challenging and emotive circumstances.

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.