Job summary
Portsmouth Medical Examiner Service are looking for 2 Medical Examiners to join us ready for the start of the Statutory ME service in April 2023. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join our team of 18 MEs and 7 MEOs. The MEs are a diverse team of primary and secondary care clinicians and our MEOs are a mix of allied health professionals and non clinical-staff.
We are well established in our scrutiny of inpatient and community hospital deaths and have onboarded 70% of local GP practices, with the intention to be scrutinising all non-coronial deaths by 1st April 2024. Bereaved people are at the heart of what we do, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns as well as providing an explanation of the MCCD and death certification process.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for colleagues to provide 1 session of 4 hours each week based on a 42 week year. You would be expected to offer sessions with a degree of flexibility to fulfill a rota. There is currently no commitment beyond office hours but this may change when the Medical Examiner system becomes statutory in April 2024. The job is based at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.
During your session, you will scrutinise a mixture of hospital and community cases to ensure accuracy of death certification, pick up governance issues and learning opportunities.
About us
Here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care for our local population. We are ranked as the third in the country for research, embedding education and training across the organisation. Our main hub is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the south coast employing over 8,700 staff.
Our patients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our hospital stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for getting it right for patients, colleagues, and our community, you will find a home at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Dimensions of role
Medical examiners (MEs) are appropriately trained doctors who will verify clinical information on Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCDs) and ensure that the right referrals are made to the coroner for further investigation. A practising medical practitioner who has been on the general medical council register for a minimum of five years post registration can apply to be a medical examiner. It is recommended that medical examiners are consultant grade
doctors from a range of disciplines (including GPs).
MEs will take a consistent approach to the formulation of MCCD content, which must be clinically accurate and reflect any discussions with the next of kin/informant. MEs must not have been involved in the care of the deceased patients for deaths they scrutinise.
Salary, hours, and other conditions of service will be agreed between the ME and the employer.
Independence
MEs must avoid any potential conflicts of interest. In cases where they have a personal or professional relationship with the deceased person, next of kin/informant, or with the attending doctor preparing the MCCD, they must transfer any scrutiny of the death to another ME.
Accountability
MEs will have professional independence in scrutinising deaths but will be accountable to the employing organisations
Board for achieving agreed standards or levels of performance.
MEs will have an independent professional line of accountability to a regional structure of NHS Improvement/NHS
England outside the employing organisation and immediate line management structure.
MEs will comply with guidance issued by the National Medical Examiner when carrying out ME duties.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Dimensions of role
Medical examiners (MEs) are appropriately trained doctors who will verify clinical information on Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCDs) and ensure that the right referrals are made to the coroner for further investigation. A practising medical practitioner who has been on the general medical council register for a minimum of five years post registration can apply to be a medical examiner. It is recommended that medical examiners are consultant grade
doctors from a range of disciplines (including GPs).
MEs will take a consistent approach to the formulation of MCCD content, which must be clinically accurate and reflect any discussions with the next of kin/informant. MEs must not have been involved in the care of the deceased patients for deaths they scrutinise.
Salary, hours, and other conditions of service will be agreed between the ME and the employer.
Independence
MEs must avoid any potential conflicts of interest. In cases where they have a personal or professional relationship with the deceased person, next of kin/informant, or with the attending doctor preparing the MCCD, they must transfer any scrutiny of the death to another ME.
Accountability
MEs will have professional independence in scrutinising deaths but will be accountable to the employing organisations
Board for achieving agreed standards or levels of performance.
MEs will have an independent professional line of accountability to a regional structure of NHS Improvement/NHS
England outside the employing organisation and immediate line management structure.
MEs will comply with guidance issued by the National Medical Examiner when carrying out ME duties.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Full GMC registration with a licence to practice
- As a pre-condition of practicing, an ME must have successfully completed the mandatory components of the national online medical examiner curriculum. Face-to-face training must be completed within the first three months of being in post.
Experience
Essential
- Must have at least 5 years post-Registration medical experience.
- MEs should have up-to-date knowledge of causes of death and an understanding of the legal frameworks associated with death certification processes.
- Knowledge of local and national clinical governance systems and an understanding of how the ME can work collaboratively to improve patient safety by identifying sub-optimal clinical and organisational performance
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Full GMC registration with a licence to practice
- As a pre-condition of practicing, an ME must have successfully completed the mandatory components of the national online medical examiner curriculum. Face-to-face training must be completed within the first three months of being in post.
Experience
Essential
- Must have at least 5 years post-Registration medical experience.
- MEs should have up-to-date knowledge of causes of death and an understanding of the legal frameworks associated with death certification processes.
- Knowledge of local and national clinical governance systems and an understanding of how the ME can work collaboratively to improve patient safety by identifying sub-optimal clinical and organisational performance
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
