Job summary
- Main area
- Medical Examiner
- Grade
- NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time
- Annualised hours
- Job ref
- 179-7117074-MSC
- Employer
- West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- West Suffolk Hospital
- Town
- Bury St. Edmunds
- Salary
- £139,882 Pro Rata Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 27/06/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Medical Examiner - 1 PA
NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
Job overview
Since 9 September 2024, all deaths in any health setting that are not investigated by a coroner will be reviewed by NHS medical examiners. We are seeking a motivated doctor to join our well established medical examiner team.
The successful postholder will be required to join the medical examiner rota, working 1 set PA each week, with some flexibility.
Please See Full Job Description attached for details
Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts, we will close vacancies before the stated closing date once the first 50 applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.
Main duties of the job
Medical examiners are senior doctors who scrutinise medical records to verify the clinical information on medical certificates of cause of death (MCCDs). They will ensure that appropriate referrals are made to the Coroner. They are trained in the legal and clinical elements of death certification processes. They have statutory responsibilities which are set out in regulations.
You will be based within and employed by the Trust but will have an external reporting line via the regional ME. Support is provided by a team of Medical Examiner Officers (MEOs). They will promote robust, transparent and independent scrutiny of the death certification process. They will work closely with the Coroners and Registrars of Deaths.
Please see attached job description and person specification for full details.
Before being able to take up such a post, medical examiner training must be completed leading to MRCPathME. There are 26 core modules available at:
https://www.rcpath.org/profession/medical-examiners/medical-examiner-training.html
Please See Full Job Description attached for details
Working for our organisation
#BeKnown at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. By us. By our patients. By our community
We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high-quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings.
The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children's ward). It has 500+ beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.
Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital.
We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and team work guide how we work and behave as a team.
With nearly 5,000 staff, from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be.
We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyones voice counts and you can #BeKnown for whoever you are.
Join us. What will you #BeKnown for?
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Department of Health called for reform of the current death certification process. Based upon the Inquiry’s findings, the DH proposed that a new role of Medical Examiner be established within healthcare environments.
Medical Examiners will be appropriately trained senior doctors who will verify clinical information on Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCDs), to ensure appropriate referrals to the Coroner and accuracy and consistency of MCCD content. They will be responsible for the scrutiny of the documentation and circumstances arising from deaths in West Suffolk Hospital. It is anticipated that all deaths in primary and secondary care will be scrutinised by the medical examiner in the future, and as a national endeavour Medical Examiners will scrutinise all deaths in England and Wales.
Medical practitioners must be registered with a license to practise in the UK by the GMC, with at least five years experience. The candidate must have been registered as a medical practitioner throughout the previous five years as at the date of appointment.
Medical examiners will need the agreement of their current service/practice managers to be flexible in their roles. Please ensure you have the approval of your relevant manager as the role will require a degree of prospective cover as well as time to attend further CPD/training and meetings of National. Regional and local ME forums as well as occasional coroner’s inquests.
Please See Full Job Description attached for details
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Full GMC registration with a licence to practice
- MBBS or equivalent
Desirable criteria
- Specialist registration
Teaching/Edu cation
Desirable criteria
- Experience in clinical education.
- Confident presentation skills
Experience
Essential criteria
- Minimum of 5 years experience as a medical practitioner in the NHS
- Commitment to maintain knowledge and keep skills up to date
- Ability to act proportionately and report sub- standard clinical and organisational performance to relevant colleagues to protect patients and to identify good practice and ensure the spread of knowledge amongst relevant colleagues
Desirable criteria
- Chair of Speciality Mortality and Morbidity or Audit Group
- Experience of Cremation Form 5 completion
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Working knowledge of practice in a healthcare environment
- Understanding of the phenomenon of healthcare- associated harm
- Ability to distinguish between natural and unnatural causes of death.
- Ability to identify when an error in healthcare has put a patient at risk.
- Awareness of equality and diversity issues within the community and how the experience of care can vary between groups.
- All applicants to have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues which could be demonstrated by one of the following: - - PLAB 2
- If applicants believe that they have adequate communication skills, but do not fit into one of the examples they need to provide evidence.
- Completion of 26 core e-LfH modules designed by the Royal College of Pathologists (before starting work in the role)
Desirable criteria
- Detailed knowledge of the relevant legislation and processes which apply to: o coroners; o registering deaths; o cremations and burials
- Awareness of the existence and impact of unconscious bias on the delivery of healthcare
- Awareness of the existence and impact of unconscious bias on the assessment of the delivery of healthcare
- Ability to distinguish between natural and unnatural causes of death.
- Awareness of Safety 1 and Safety 2
Technical Skills
Essential criteria
- Good written communication skills, including the ability to summarise clearly and accurately
- Good oral communication skills, including active listening skills, the ability to understand and summarise a discussion, ask appropriate questions, provide constructive challenge and give effective feedback.
- Ability to communicate effectively and sensitively with the bereaved of all faiths and communities.
- Ability to make explicit judgments of quality of care.
- IT literacy
- Ability to manage an information-based process under tight timescales.
Clinical Governance
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of clinical governance systems as they affect the work of professionals and organisations.
- Commitment to supporting ward-to-board governance of quality and safety.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of having led Specialty Mortality and Morbidity or Audit Group
Probity
Essential criteria
- Excellent personal integrity
- Willingness and ability to record judgments of the quality of care explicitly and defensibly.
- Ability to demonstrate transparency in communications with relatives and carers, other agencies and clinical teams, and the coroner’s office.
Motivation
Essential criteria
- Commitment to improving quality and safety by creating a learning culture.
- Willingness to celebrate good quality care and challenge poor quality care with colleagues throughout the trust and wider system.
- Recognition that harm usually occurs through system problems not individuals acting alone.
- Commitment to increasing the input patients, relatives and carers have following a death and openness to receiving their feedback
- Commitment to working collaboratively with other agencies to improve quality and safety for the whole population.
Personality
Essential criteria
- Ability to work well independently, as part of a team and with colleagues in the bereavement service and mortuary
- Ability to self-organise and cooperate with fellow Medical Examiners and the Learning from Deaths coordinator to manage a complex workload.
- Ability to recognise limits of own clinical knowledge and seek advice from specialists where necessary.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Justin Alberts
- Job title
- Consultant Surgeon and Lead Medical Examiner
- Email address
- [email protected]
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