Lead Medical Examiner

at  Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Medical Examiner Service was created by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in response to the Shipman Inquiry. The purpose of the Medical Examiner Service is to provide independent oversight and safeguards for the scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths.
There is now established Medical Examiner Office, hosted and supported by Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, with 13 Medical Examiners and 3 Medical Examiner Officers. At present the service is reviewing all deaths within the Acute trust and a has developed referral processes for all non acute hospital deaths. Relationships with all GPs, Mental care hospitals, private care sector and the hospice are all in place and we are scrutinised a significant proportion of non acute deaths. Challenges exist to engage fully with all GPs, and to set up an effective out of hours service.
Due to retirement the office is looking to recruit an experienced Medical Examiner into the Lead Medical Examiner role, to lead the service into and through the statutory introduction of the Medical Examiner to all areas, expected to happen in April 2024.
The Lead Medical Examiner is a local role to oversee development and leadership of an effective Medical Examiner service consistent with regional and national best practice. They will report to the Trust Board and ICB as necessary, liaising and working with local partner organisations. They will be accountable to the regional Medical Examiner.
A key part of this role is to help to improve the entire certification process, providing additional support to bereaved relatives and clinical teams for the whole of Bradford. The Lead Medical Examiner will work alongside Medical Examiners, Medical Examiner Officers, general practitioners, doctors from a variety of specialties, the Chief Medical Officer, the learning from deaths program and Bereavement Services. The Lead Medical Examiner will need to also develop strong working relationships with all the relevant key stakeholders in Bradford, this includes the Senior Coroner and coroners office, registrar, integrated Care Board, the Bradford district Care Trust, faith leaders, council leaders, MPs and funeral directors.
Applications are encouraged from general practitioners and senior doctors of all specialties, particularly those with experience of working in the community and those who have a broad experience of health care settings and are at least 5 years post registration. It is expected that they will already have experience of being a Medical Examiner and it is expected that as part of this role they will continue to perform case note scrutinies as a Medical Examiner for at least 0.5PA per week.
Our People Charter outlines the behaviours we can expect from one another and what you can expect from Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust:
We value people
We are one team
We care
We’re keen to meet people who share these values and are passionate about delivering the highest quality of care to our patients.
Applications are encouraged from general practitioners and senior doctors of all specialties, particularly those with experience of working in the community and those who have a broad experience of health care settings and are at least 5 years post registration. It is expected that they will already have experience of being a Medical Examiner and it is expected that as part of this role they will continue to perform case note scrutinies as a Medical Examiner for at least 1PA per week.
As a Medical Examiner they are responsible for the scrutiny of the medical records of all the deceased patients that are not referred to the coroner. They discuss the proposed cause of death with clinical teams and they explain the cause of death to the bereaved families, and ascertain if there are any family concerns. Medical Examiners can also help to identify whether a case requires referral to the Coroners Office.
As a Medical Examiner they are responsible for highlighting any concerns that they have about the clinical care, feeding into the existing Learning from Deaths process. This is well aligned to the learning from death recommendations from the CQC and National Quality Board Learning, Candour, and Accountability and National Guidance on Learning from Deaths papers.
Successful applicants will be offered sessional time to fit the requirements of the service and the individual. As the Medical Examiner service evolves, it is to be expected that there will be a requirement to perform some out-of-hours duties to develop and maintain continuity of the service.
Remuneration for General Practitioners and senior doctors will be in line with national terms and conditions for the Specialty Doctor Contracts / TCS and paid on the Consultant pay scale equivalent to experience

Please refer the Job description for details