Medical Examiners Officer

NHS; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job description

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The Mersey & West Lancashire (MWL) Medical Examiner Service, based at Whiston Hospital, are very excited to be extending our service and we are looking for an excellent Medical Examiner Officer to play a key role in our ongoing development. The Medical Examiner service is fundamental to supporting the bereaved, ensuring consistency and accuracy in death certification and promoting continuous learning. If you feel strongly about providing outstanding services to our community then we would like to hear from you.

Our ME service was established in 2021 to provide independent scrutiny of the circumstances and causes of in-hospital and Willowbrook Hospice deaths to support families with empathy and understanding through this process. We have now extended our service to include deaths that have occurred in the community. To make this a success we are looking to recruit an additional Medical Examiner Officer (MEO) to join our existing team.

Main duties of the job

1. Work with Medical Examiners and the Lead Medical Examiner's Officer to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the locality.
2. 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, highlighting to the Medical Examiner any inconsistencies or areas of concern noted.
3. Act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patient's death.
4. Liaise with the bereavement team as required in relation to keeping the bereaved informed and arrangements to issue the death certificate to them.
5. Work on own initiative, referring to the Lead Medical Examiner Officer when necessary.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Educated to Bachelor's degree level or equivalent working knowledge in related field.
• A commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
• Completed e-learning MEO core training modules prior to starting in the post.

Knowledge & Experience

• Experience of working with people in sensitive and emotional situations.
• Experience of working in a healthcare setting with multi-disciplinary teams across organisational boundaries.

Skills

• Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism with all stakeholders.
• Ability to work as part of a team and organise fluctuating workload around competing priorities.
• The ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including the recently bereaved.
• Approachable and supportive to all levels of staff and bereaved families in a non-judgemental and discreet manner.
• Competent in the use of IT software systems and handling sensitive personal identifiable data.
• Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to deputise for senior MEO often at short notice.
• Ability to maintain a calm manner in a range of challenging and emotive circumstances.

Other

• Ability to use a computer for significant periods of time.
• Ability to concentrate for significant periods of time.
• Able to cope with the significant emotional effort associated with dealing with bereaved families.

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.

Employer name

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

£29,970 to £36,483 a year Per Annum, Pro Rata