Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity to lead the Whittington Health Medical Examiner (ME) service. The Lead Medical Examiner will provide clinical leadership, governance, and oversight of the ME team, ensuring compliance with national death certification and scrutiny requirements. The post involves supervising 7 Medical Examiners and 2 Medical Examiner Officers, maintaining records, supporting training, and reporting to the National Medical Examiner's Office. The role includes 0.5 PA/week for the Lead ME and 0.5 PA/week for Medical Examiner duties (1 session/week) and requires collaboration with other NHS partner organisations, UCL Medical School, and regional ME networks to improve service efficiency and quality.
Main duties of the job
Please see the full Job Description and the Person Specification for further details about the job role.
About us
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trustbelieves that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Key responsibilities include:
-
Leading and supporting a team of 7 Medical Examiners and 2 Medical Examiner Officers.
-
Scrutinising causes of death and discussing them with next of kin sensitively and transparently.
-
Maintaining comprehensive records and reporting to the National Medical Examiners Office.
-
Participating in clinical governance, audits, mortality reviews, and investigations relating to patient care.
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Supporting training and education for junior doctors, nurses, and undergraduate/postgraduate students.
-
Collaborating with faith groups, NHS partner organisations, and UCLH to improve service quality, efficiency, and user experience.
-
Promoting best practice, equality, and compliance across the ME service.
The role involves 0.5 PA/week for the Lead ME and 0.5 PA/week for Medical Examiner duties (1 session/week), with flexibility for meetings and cross-site work as required.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Key responsibilities include:
-
Leading and supporting a team of 7 Medical Examiners and 2 Medical Examiner Officers.
-
Scrutinising causes of death and discussing them with next of kin sensitively and transparently.
-
Maintaining comprehensive records and reporting to the National Medical Examiners Office.
-
Participating in clinical governance, audits, mortality reviews, and investigations relating to patient care.
-
Supporting training and education for junior doctors, nurses, and undergraduate/postgraduate students.
-
Collaborating with faith groups, NHS partner organisations, and UCLH to improve service quality, efficiency, and user experience.
-
Promoting best practice, equality, and compliance across the ME service.
The role involves 0.5 PA/week for the Lead ME and 0.5 PA/week for Medical Examiner duties (1 session/week), with flexibility for meetings and cross-site work as required.
Person Specification
ICARE values
Essential
- Demonstrable ability to both meet and actively promote the trust values:
Knowledge, Skills and Performance
Essential
- Medical practitioner registered and licensed to practise in the UK by the GMC, of at least 5 years standing. Consultant or SAS grade of equivalent experience
- Prior experience as a Medical Examiner
- A Commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
- IT skills including use of email and commonly used software.
- Ability to manage and comply with sensitive information-based processes under tight timescales with a proportionate approach, and to maintain compliance with Trust Information Governance policies and processes.
- Knowledge of the sSpecial requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity
Desirable
- Experience of leading and motivating teams including leading through innovation and change preferably via quality improvement approach
Safety and Quality - Clinical Governance
Essential
- 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.
- Ability to identify available data sources to support the detection and analysis of concerns and to recognise gaps in available knowledge.
- Ability to identify and disseminate examples of good practice amongst relevant colleagues.
Person Specification
ICARE values
Essential
- Demonstrable ability to both meet and actively promote the trust values:
Knowledge, Skills and Performance
Essential
- Medical practitioner registered and licensed to practise in the UK by the GMC, of at least 5 years standing. Consultant or SAS grade of equivalent experience
- Prior experience as a Medical Examiner
- A Commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
- IT skills including use of email and commonly used software.
- Ability to manage and comply with sensitive information-based processes under tight timescales with a proportionate approach, and to maintain compliance with Trust Information Governance policies and processes.
- Knowledge of the sSpecial requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity
Desirable
- Experience of leading and motivating teams including leading through innovation and change preferably via quality improvement approach
Safety and Quality - Clinical Governance
Essential
- 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.
- Ability to identify available data sources to support the detection and analysis of concerns and to recognise gaps in available knowledge.
- Ability to identify and disseminate examples of good practice amongst relevant colleagues.
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
