Medical Examiner Officer

The East Dorset Medical Examiner Service, hosted by UHD, is part of a vital national initiative introduced by NHS England. Our service provides independent scrutiny of all deaths not investigated by the Coroner, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and compassion in examining the circumstances and causes of death, both in-hospital and in the local community.
We are looking for a Medical Examiner Officer to join our friendly, collaborative team, delivering a professional and compassionate service. They will help the Medical Examiner to review the circumstances and causes of the death and will work closely, yet independently from other services involved in patient care.
It is a challenging role combining some medical terminology/ clinical knowledge and skilled communication. Ideally the applicant will be familiar with coroner, medical examiner and death certification processes.
Experience of bereavement care would be beneficial as Medical Examiner Officers are required to interact sensitively with the bereaved, handling emotive and challenging situations. The post holder must exhibit exceptional attention to detail, strong administrative capabilities, and effective communication skills when interacting with all stakeholders.
This role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful difference by providing vital support to bereaved families and helping to maintain the integrity of the death certification process.
Base Location: Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Interview Date: 24th October, · 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, coroner and registration services.
· To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patient's death.
· To work with Medical Examiners to aid them in their responsibility for overseeing the death certification process for all deceased patients.
· 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 referral using the governance reporting systems in the Acute Trust, as well as referral using the clinical governance processes for deaths in the community (GP practices), community hospitals, hospices and private health care in East Dorset.
· To highlight patients for referral to the coroner for further investigation.
· To ensure the application and observation of all health and safety, security and confidentiality policies are adhered to by all medical examiner office services staff.

Working for our organisation
Our values define who we are as #TeamUHD. They underpin everything we do now and in the future. They define how we treat our patients, visitors, and each other, our valued teammates and colleagues.
UHD are investing in services across the Trust, with many being transformed and developed following merger and the New Hospital Programme.
This means that some services may move site this year or next, either temporarily or long term. Recruiting Managers interviewing for this role will be happy to answer any specific questions that you have about this at interview.

As University Hospitals Dorset we are a three site acute trust with 'university hospital' status through our partnership with Bournemouth University, working with an annual budget of £730m.
We offer highly regarded health services, employing some 10,000 staff. Our ambitious £250m estates programme is well on the way to delivering state-of-the-art facilities over the next two years to meet the current and future healthcare needs of the populations we serve.
In an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with over seven miles of sandy beaches you'll find inspirational opportunities to achieve your perfect work/life balance. With the New Forest and the Purbecks on our doorstep, we're also less than three hours from London by road or train. The thriving towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch give way to idyllic villages and unspoilt landscapes just minutes from our hospitals.
We believe that having a diverse workforce, and allowing people to be themselves, is essential in ensuring we offer an inclusive, welcoming and productive place to work.
We especially welcome applications from minority groups in the community who may be underrepresented in our workforce.
At UHD our active staff network groups are the Women's Network, Black Asian Minority Ethnic Group (BAME), Pride Network, European (EU), Pro Ability Staff Network, and the Armed Forces Support Group.
As a Trust we are proudly signed up to the Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant guaranteed interview schemes.

Staff recruited are expected to be available to work flexibly across all our Trust locations to meet service demands.
This advert may be closed early if sufficient applications are received.
COVID-19 vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself and our patients from the virus when working in our healthcare settings. Whilst this vaccination is not a condition of employment we do encourage our staff to get vaccinated.
Internal Candidates: staff employed prior to merger who voluntarily change jobs will be appointed to UHD terms and conditions.