Medical Examiner | Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; England; On-site; GBP 72,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional health service provider is seeking a Medical Examiner to expand their team. You will scrutinise medical records to ensure accuracy in causes of death and engage with next of kin, all while providing support during the certification process. The role requires a medical background and strong communication skills. This position offers a collaborative environment, comprehensive training, and the opportunity to be part of an essential service that enhances patient care and safety in the community.

Benefits

Comprehensive training program

Supportive team environment

Access to development opportunities

Qualifications

• Experience in medical review processes.
• Strong understanding of death certification.
• Ability to communicate empathetically with bereaved families.

Responsibilities

• Scrutinise deceased patients' records for accuracy.
• Determine legal requirements for death referrals.
• Engage in clinical governance activities for death certification.

Skills

Scrutiny of medical records

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Team collaboration

Education

Medical degree

Job description

We are looking to expand our Medical Examiner Service. Routine mortality reviews of all inpatient deaths have been taking place at Luton & Dunstable Hospital since 2018 providing scrutiny for all inpatient deaths at the hospital, and we have developed an excellent working relationship with our Superintendent Registrar, Coroner and Coroner’s Officers locally. We have been working with two local GP’s to develop a streamlined process which will allow Luton & Bedfordshire GP practices to refer deaths to the service for review. This has been trialled with a group of three practices over the past few months, and it is now ready to be offered to all other practices in the area. We are a supportive, experienced and dynamic team from a range of clinical backgrounds, and we are now looking to recruit new medical practitioners to the team to deal with the doubling of workload that will accompany this imminent change.

As a new Medical Examiner, you will be supported by the team as we grow the service. Training is hosted by the Royal College of Pathologists with peer support being provided in the new role by the existing medical examiners. This is a highly rewarding role that provides essential safeguards within the death certification process, provides support to the bereaved, supports correct referral to HM Coroner and supports system wide learning and improvement.

Responsibilities

• Proportionately scrutinise deceased patients’ records against the Cause of Death offered by the certifying practitioner.
• Ensure that the Cause of Death is accurate and meets the legal requirements for registration.
• Determine that there is no requirement for referral of the case to the Coroner for review.
• Review and action any concerns about the death raised by any concerned party.
• Escalate concerns about the standard of care received by the deceased for investigation for system-wide learning.
• Maintain comprehensive electronic records of all deaths scrutinised in approved Trust applications, and undertake analysis to provide information to the National Medical Examiner’s office.
• Participate in relevant clinical governance activities relating to death certification including audits, mortality review processes and investigations regarding formal complaints about patient care, where appropriate and with the agreement of the Lead Medical Examiner.
• Support the training of junior doctors in their understanding of death certification and promote good practice in accurate completion of MCCDs.
• Work with medical examiner officers (MEOs), delegating duties as appropriate.

Additional responsibilities and duties include:

• Ensure compliance with the legal and procedural requirements associated with the current and proposed reformed processes of certification, investigation by coroners and registration of deaths.
• Scrutinise the certified causes of death offered by attending doctors in a way that is proportionate, consistent and compliant with the proposed national protocol.
• Discuss and explain the cause of death with next of kin/informants in a transparent, tactful and sympathetic manner. Discussions are predominately conducted through telephone conversations where barriers to understanding information may exist; these may be delegated to a Medical Examiners Officer if appropriate.
• Medical Examiners are not allowed to scrutinise the death of any patient whose care they have been involved in.
• Ensure that all users of the ME system are treated with respect and are not discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
• Provide a degree of flexibility; some weekend working is likely to be required, but will not be unduly onerous: exact details will depend on the legislation currently being drawn up by the Government.
• Engage with lead ME and lead MEO for the region.
• Adopt a collaborative working relationship with other MEs by sharing experiences and expertise to support peer learning and set uniform standards of service delivery.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics‑led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

As new staff, you will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.

This advert closes on Friday 12 Dec 2025.