Skip to main content
Please wait, loading

Job summary

Main area
Medical Examiner Officer
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 6
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
197-AO-4964B
Employer
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Lewisham Hospital
Town
Lewisham
Salary
£35,392 - £42,618 pa
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
06/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust logo

Senior Medical Examiner Officer

NHS AfC: Band 6

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over  staying comfortable; Listening  over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

Senior Medical Examiner Officer: Band 6

We are seeking a Senior Medical Examiner Officer who has completed and consolidated their Medical Examiner Officer Royal College of Pathologists Training and is now able to step into a leadership role, managing a small team of Medical Examiner Officers on two hospital sites at Lewisham Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, the role is a cross-site role. 

You will need to have good communication skills, be able to work as part of a team and be able to represent the Medical Examiner Service. 

Previous applicants need not apply.

Main duties of the job

As the senior Medical Examiner Officer you will be responsible for the day to day office management, leading a small team of Medical Examiner Officers, working closely with the Lead Medical Examiner and Medical Examiners who work within the service. 

With effect from April 2024, the Medical Examiner Service will be statutory requiring all deaths at the Trust and local community to be scrutinised before a death certificate to be issues or coroners referral made. 

Key stakeholders you will liaise with are: Next of Kin, Trust Staff / Medical Staff, Registrars in our local boroughs and the Regional Medical Examiner and Regional Medical Examiner Officer for London. 

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

  1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
  2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
  3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
  4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
  5. Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Planning and allocating the work for the Medical Examiners and Medical Examiner Officers on a daily basis

Collating figures for the weekly and monthly returns ensuring all key performance indicators are met 

Working closely with the Lead ME and Head of Bereavement 

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Educated to Bachelor’s degree level or equivalent working knowledge in related field; or evidence of study/equivalent practical experience at an advanced level; this might include nursing and/or other clinical experience.
  • A commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
  • The ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including the recently bereaved.
  • Completed e-learning MEO core training modules prior to starting in the post
  • Formal MEO training provided by the Royal College of Pathologists

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of working with people in sensitive and emotional situations.
  • Experience of working in a healthcare setting with multi-disciplinary teams across organisational boundaries.
  • Understanding of medical terminology that enables informed discussions about causes/circumstances of death with bereaved families, clinicians, coroner and registration service staff.
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of facilitating groups Leadership and influencing change

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Specialist knowledge of various faith groups’ funeral wishes/practices to enable respectful compliance with tight and specific timescales and procedures.
  • Knowledge of the Coroner & Justice Act 2009 reference to the ME system. Full understanding of the ME system operational remit.
  • Knowledge and understanding of the statutory process around death certification legal frameworks and how the ME system aligns with other related organisations and NHS initiatives.
Desirable criteria
  • Presentation Skills

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria
  • Ability to lead and work as part of a team and organise fluctuating workload around competing priorities.
  • Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism with all stakeholders.
  • Highly evolved empathetic and self-awareness skills to deal with bereaved families who may have barriers to understanding.
  • Ability to work in a highly pressurised, unpredictable environment where bereavement care is central to the service delivery.
  • Proactive and self-motivated.
  • Approachable and supportive to all levels of staff and bereaved families in a non-judgmental and discreet manner.
  • Professional appearance, manner and awareness of impact of own behaviour on others.
  • Ability to maintain a calm manner in a range of challenging and emotive circumstances.
  • Competent in the use of IT software systems and handling sensitive personal identifiable data.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Trust IDCapital Nurse, LondonVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoTimewise helps businesses to attract and develop the best talent through flexible working.No smoking policyLondon Living Wage is a voluntary commitment made by employers, who can become accredited with the Living Wage FoundationAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)We offer Wagestream - A financial wellbeing benefit which lets you access your pay as you earn it.Disability confident employerNHS Rainbow badgePrince's Trust - Proud to support the Prince's trust - Youth can do itStep into healthHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Emma Read
Job title
Head of Nursing
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07833 237041
Additional information

n/a

Apply online nowAlert me to similar vacancies