Medical Examiner Officer

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Introduction to the Department

North Middlesex University Hospital is one of London’s busiest acute hospitals, serving more than 350,000 people living in Enfield and Haringey and the surrounding areas, including Barnet and Waltham Forest. Every day, on average, we see 500 patients in A&E; 15 babies are born in our maternity unit; about 450 inpatients are cared for on our wards; about 50 patients have major or minor surgery in one of our 10 operating theatres; and about 800 people attend our outpatient’s clinics.

We provide a full range of adult, elderly and children's services across medical and surgical disciplines. Our specialist services include stroke, HIV/AIDS, cardiology (including heart failure care), haematology, diabetes, sleep studies, fertility and orthopaedics. Our sickle cell and thalassemia department is nationally recognised as a leading centre for these diseases.

At North Middlesex University Hospital, you’ll find a team that truly believes in living our values in everything we do. We are caring, we are fair and we are open. 

The Medical Examiner system was introduced in 2018 and introduced a new level of scrutiny       whereby all deaths are subject to either a medical examiner’s scrutiny or a coroner’s investigation. In October 2024 the system was expanded by the introduction of the following regulations which have expanded the roles and responsibilities of Medical Examiners -

•    The Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Regulations 2024
•    The Medical Examiners (England) Regulations 2024
•    The National Medical Examiner (Additional Functions) Regulations 2024

The Medical Examiner Service at the North Middlesex currently comprises four Medical Examiners and three full time Medical Examiner Officers.  This team combine clinical skills and compassion to scrutinise the circumstances and cause of death, oversee the death certification process and liaise with the bereaved.  The service covers both deaths within NMUHT and community deaths within Haringey and Enfield from our North Middlesex Office.

Duties and Responsibilities of the medical examiner officers:

•    To support Medical Examiners in their role in scrutinising the circumstances and causes of death.
•    To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patient’s death.
•    Work with medical examiners to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients in the Trust and Enfield and Haringey.
•    To participate in the implementation of the reform of death certification and to aim to improve the processes of death certification and referrals to the Coroner
•    To participate in developing protocols, guidleines and policies for the development and delivery of the Medical Examiner Service at North Middlesex University Trust in tandem with ongoing bereavement and care after death policy and processes
•    To be a senior point of contact and source of advice for relatives of deceased patients, healthcare professionals and Coroner and Registration Services
•    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 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).
•    To assist the Medical Examiner in referral of patients to the coroner for further investigation.
•    Maintain an awareness of the diverse needs of users of the medical examiner system to ensure equality to any particular group defined by sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.

Knowledge, Skills And Experience Required:

•    Educated to Batchelor’s degree level, or evidence of study/equivalent practical experience at an advanced level; this might include nursing and/or other clinical experience.
•    To have qualifications/skills in day-to-day operational/process management of a customer- facing service where users may have unpredictable and emotionally charged needs.
•    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.
•    Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
•    To have an understanding of 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.
•    The ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service delivery.
•    Specialist knowledge of various faith groups’ funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
•    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.

Key Result Areas:

•    To manage conflicting demands, prioritise tasks and deal with queries as they arise.
•    Identify bereaved relatives’ concerns and escalate them appropriately.
•    To assist the bereaved in identifying appropriate information and additional/further advice and support via the Bereavement Service.
•    Apply specialist knowledge of various faith groups’ funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
•    Be a highly skilled and confident communicator who is able to deliver complex information, sometimes in distressing circumstances. Be able to communicate clearly in all modes (verbally, email, letter) and able to communicate with people at all levels.
•    To discuss content of medical certificate of cause of death with the bereaved and in all cases, collect any additional information that might impact the case in any way. This may include the need to communicate sensitive information and offer explanations.
•    To ensure any concerns raised by the relatives are passed to the Medical Examiner and/or Bereavement and Mortuary Services in a timely fashion before medical certificate of cause of death is released to relatives.
•    To participate in meetings with relatives alongside the Medical Examiner and other members of the multidisciplinary team, providing administrative support such as note taking.
•    Full compliance with secure handling of patient identifiable data is essential.
•    Contribute to and review departmental policies and procedures to reflect best practice in the delivery of a medical examiner system.
•    To participate in developing protocols, guidelines and policies for the development and delivery of the Medical Examiner Service at North Middlesex University NHS Trust in tandem with ongoing bereavement and care after death policy and processes.

Most challenging part of the role:

Regular interaction with the bereaved relatives in person or over the telephone. The post holder must have the ability to demonstrate empathy and remain professional at all times.

Physical Effort and Working Conditions:

There is significant emotional effort associated with dealing with bereaved families. To use a computer for prolonged periods of time daily.