Medical Examiners Officer
Closed for applications on: 16-Dec-2022 00:00
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 16-Dec-2022 00:00
Key details
Location
- Site
- Blackpool Victoria Hospital
- Address
- Whinney Heys Road
- Town
- Blackpool
- Postcode
- FY3 8NR
- Major / Minor Region
- Lancashire
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 30 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £25,655 - £31,534 Pro Rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 5)
Specialty
- Main area
- Medical Examiners Office (Mortuary & Bereavement Services)
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
To support medical examiners 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.
Advert
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a medical examiners’ officer to join the medical examiner service within the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This is part of the national implementation of the medical examiner system in England and Wales.
The overarching purpose of the medical examiner system is to:
- provide greater safeguards for the public by ensuring proper scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths
- ensure the appropriate direction of deaths to the coroner
- provide a better service for the bereaved and an opportunity for them to raise any concerns to a doctor not involved in the care of the deceased
- improve the quality of death certification
- improve the quality of mortality data.
The role will involve not only working closely with the Medical Examiners in the independent scrutiny of deaths, but also in collaboration with the Bereavement Office team. This role will incorporate administrative skills in ensuring necessary paperwork is accurate and complete, but also excellent communication skills in liaison with the multidisciplinary team, families, doctors and where required the Patient Safety, Legal or Complaints teams. Part of the day to day work will also involve investigation work and perusal of patient notes.
Working for our organisation
The Trust's mission is "Together We Care" which encompasses the strategic vision for operating as a high performing organisation within an Integrated Care System (ICS), which provides quality, safe and effective care. This will be achieved in a financially sustainable way through our values-driven, skilled and motivated workforce:
People-centred - Serving people is the focus of everything we do;
Positive - having a "can do" response whatever the situation;
Compassion - always demonstrating we care;
Excellence - continually striving to provide the best care possible.
Our Values are drivers for the behaviours that all our staff strive to demonstrate.
The values and behaviours have been and continue to be embedded and communicated across the organisation via a number of initiatives - including our recruitment processes, corporate induction, team briefings, meetings, appraisals and our annual awards ceremony.
We recommend that all individuals employed in patient facing roles, or those located on a ward or department where patients receive a service should be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description for full details.
To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish any concerns relating to a patient’s death. 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 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.
To assist in highlighting cases for assessment by the Structured Judgement Review team (SJR), Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP), Clinical Governance teams and the Learning Disability Review Teams (LeDeR).
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 £22.00, Standard DBS check £22.00 and Enhanced DBS check £42.00.
You are encouraged where possible, to register for the DBS update service. This is an annual registration fee of £13. 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.
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Person specification
Skills and Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate and remain calm in difficult and emotional circumstances, with empathy and professionalism with all stakeholders.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage at all levels, including senior clinicians, coroners etc. about sensitive issues
- Ability to work as part of a team and organise fluctuating workload around competing priorities
Qualification Requirements
Essential criteria
- Educated to Bachelor’s Degree level or equivalent working knowledge in a related field
- A commitment to lifelong learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
- Evidence of continuing professional development
- The ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including the recently bereaved
- Completed e-learning MEO core training modules prior to starting the post
Experience and Achievements
Essential criteria
- Experience of working with people in sensitive and emotional situations.
- Experience of working with bereaved families or in a clinical setting with patients and relatives
- Competent at understanding and interpreting clinical information from electronic and paper medical records, investigations and clinical history.
- Good knowledge of clinical/medical terminology
- Competent with IT software systems and handling sensitive personal identifiable data
- Knowledge of the Coroner’s & Justice Act 2009 reference to the medical examiner system.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working within a healthcare setting with multidisciplinary teams across organisational boundaries. Knowledge/experience of inquests and coronial processes.
- Knowledge/experience of mortality review processes e.g. Learning from Deaths, Structured Judgement Review
- Knowledge of the special requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity following a death
- Experience and understanding of audit
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Joanne Sharples
- Job title
- Cellular Pathology Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01253 953151
- Additional information
Carla McCaffrey
Mortuary & Bereavement Services Manager
01253 956832
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
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