Medical Examiner Officer

TheEast 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.,

• 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.
  
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