Medical Examiners Officer
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people.
We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England.Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries.
We welcome and encourage application from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.
Job overview
Medical examiner officers support medical examiners and their role includes:- Managing cases from initial notification through to completion
- Obtaining relevant medical records
- Communication with the registrar and bereaved families
- Work with Medical Examiners (ME) to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the organisation.
- To act as an intermediary between the bereaved families and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patient’s death.
- To 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.
- To provide specialised advice to the bereaved and signpost to internal and external agencies and further support when required.
Working for our organisation
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people.
We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England.Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries.
We welcome and encourage application from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for further details about the role.
When applying for this role please match your work experience and qualifications to the essential and desirable criteria required for this role and provide details of how they align within the "supporting information" section of the application.
Consideration may be given to anyone working towards their RCP certificate Train to become a medical examiner officer
Person specification
Experience & Knowledge
Essential criteria- To understand medical terminology that enables informed discussions about causes/circumstances of death with bereaved families, clinicians, coroner, and registration service staff.
- Knowledge of the statutory process around death certification legal frameworks and how the medical examiner system aligns with other related organisations and NHS initiatives.
- Specialist knowledge of various faith groups’ funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
- Experience of working in the NHS or similar public service
- Previous experience of working as a Medical Examiners Officer
Qualification Requirements
Essential criteria- Educated to Bachelor’s Degree level or equivalent working knowledge in a related field
- RCP Certificate
- Postgraduate qualification in associated topic
Skills and Ability
Essential criteria- Highly evolved empathetic and self-awareness skills to deal with bereaved families who may have barriers to understanding information due to their grief or disability.
- Ability to deliver a day-to-day operational/process management of a customer-facing service where users may have unpredictable and emotionally charged needs.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Computer literate to use multiple IT software for recording personal identifiable data and producing statistical information for the National Medical Examiner’s office and Public Health surveillance
- Ability to identify relatives’ concerns and escalate them appropriately
- Able to deal proactively with conflict.
- The ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service delivery
Please click here to view our Care and Compassion Day video
Any invitation to interview will be sent to the email account stated on your application form.
If the role you have applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this as part of your pre-employment checks. Please note, you will be required to repay the cost on appointment. This will be collected via a salary deduction.You can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months from your salary or as a one-off payment on commencement in post. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £25.50, Standard DBS check £25.50 and Enhanced DBS check £53.50.
You are encouraged where possible, to register for the DBS update service. This is an annual registration fee of £16. By registering for the update service you will not have the additional cost of repeated disclosures.
Should you withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check.
DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions.
By submitting an application for this vacancy you are confirming your agreement to the above in the event you are successfully appointed.
The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here.
Please ensure that you read the Person Specification attached below as your application will be judged against this.
Please note that every effort will be made to keep the vacancy live until published closing date, though there may be instances where such interest is generated, that for administrative reasons the post may close earlier.
Please note that in line with national NHS guidelines this Trust operates a strict non-smoking policy. Members of staff are not permitted to smoke on Trust premises or grounds at any time nor take breaks during working hours for the purposes of smoking.
The Trust does not offer interview expenses to shortlisted candidates unless indicated in the advert.