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Job summary

Main area
Medical and Dental
Grade
Dependent on Grade of the successful medical practitioner
Contract
Fixed term: 24 months (-)
Hours
1 session per week (The working pattern is part-time: 0.5 PA/week for LME + 0.5 PA/week for ME, equivalent to 1 session/week (4 hours).)
Job ref
220-CORP-MED-LME
Employer
Whittington Health NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Whittington Hospital
Town
London
Salary
pro rata
Closing
01/04/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Whittington Health NHS Trust logo

Lead Medical Examiner/Medical Examiner

Dependent on Grade of the successful medical practitioner

Please note in order to progress your application, your data will be processed by our 3rd party recruitment providers – North London Partners Shared Service, who conduct recruitment activities on behalf of Whittington Health NHS Trust.

For our current apprenticeship vacancies, please go to https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship and use Keyword ‘Whittington’

By applying for this role, you accept in the event you are successful that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which is aimed at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a set of technology that can perform various tasks that typically required human intelligence. Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, it’s important that examples and responses genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey. Further guidance can be found in the NLPSS Applicant Toolkit  https://royalfree.pagetiger.com/cuuomnr/1.

 


 

Job overview

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.

Working for our organisation

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 Trust believes 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.

Detailed job description and main 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 Examiner’s 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 criteria
  • Demonstrable ability to both meet and actively promote the trust values:

Knowledge, Skills and Performance

Essential criteria
  • 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 criteria
  • Experience of leading and motivating teams including leading through innovation and change preferably via quality improvement approach

Safety and Quality – Clinical Governance

Essential criteria
  • 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.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

No smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleDisability confident leaderInvestors in PeopleImproving working livesCare quality commission - GoodDisability confident employerDisability confident committed

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Ilana Samson
Job title
Acting ME lead
Email address
[email protected]
Additional information

Dr Clarissa Murdoch

Acting CMO

[email protected]

If you have problems applying, contact

Address
Whittington Health NHS Trust
Magdala Avenue
London
N19 5NF
Telephone
020 7288 5286
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