Job summary
Employer heading
Medical Examiner Officer (Band 6)
NHS AfC: Band 6
Be part of our future landscape
At Airedale, we are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. We actively encourage applications irrespective of people’s age, lived experience of living with a disability or long-term conditions, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.
Increasing our diversity and supporting our organisation to be more inclusive is a key priority here at Airedale and our teams are at the centre of how we work towards this.
We appreciate all people may have diverse and individual needs and we pride ourselves on supporting all people to thrive and flourish at work. We have frameworks in place that support reasonable adjustments and flexible working for colleagues throughout their working lives which starts at recruitment.
These are exciting times for Airedale. We have the once-in-a-career opportunity to be involved in the planning and building of a completely new hospital here on our Steeton site by 2030. By joining us now you’ll be a key part of our journey over the next few years, with the chance to input into a state-of-the-art, modern healthcare facility that will deliver care to our communities for decades to come. We are also on the journey to a new electronic patient record, part of our wider ambition for our digital future – a future that builds on our significant telemedicine and digital care success. Ultimately, what makes Airedale special is our people. Not just our staff, but our volunteers, patients, visitors, and wider population who make up the Airedale family. This is a Trust that sits at the heart of our community, and our communities are very proud of their Trust.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity is now available for another Medical Examiner Officer (MEO) to join our friendly team. Following the Shipman Enquiry, the Department of Health announced the introduction of Medical Examiners (ME’s) to independently review the patient's care and confirm the cause of death. This will become a statutory requirement from September 2024. As an MEO, you will play a key role in the delivery of the service, reviewing all deaths that occur in hospital or community. The MEOs provide the continuity and oversight that the service requires, supporting the ME’s in the death certification process by managing cases from initial notification through to completion and communication with the Registrar.
Main duties of the job
To assist the ME’s in carrying out their duty of independent scrutiny of the deceased by performing a preliminary review of medical records to identify clinical and circumstantial information. MEOs also act a point of contact, advice and support for relatives of deceased patients and work closely with other healthcare professionals, bereavement services, the coroner and registration services.
Working for our organisation
We are always looking for enterprising and innovative approaches to the way we provide our services. We are a national centre for telemedicine and introduced telehealth to the UK offender healthcare sector and also provide the service to patients in their care homes. Community matters to us and we are supported by 400 dedicated volunteers and have strong links with Bradford University, Craven College and Leeds City College to ensure we inspire the workforce of the future.
We want to attract staff who embrace our Right Care behaviours of compassion, a commitment to quality of care and working together for patients we want to make these part of our DNA.
This is an expanding team led by the Lead Medical Examiner, a number of part-time Medical Examiners and two Medical Examiner Officers. It is a fast moving service that is responsive to the national agenda with good team moral, leadership and clear direction of travel. This expansion works on communication, liaison and a strong view of making a difference to bereaved relatives at the time of loss.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For further information and full details of the job role please see the attached job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of how to assess if the care recorded in the case notes is in accordance with accepted best practice
- Professional knowledge acquired through relevant study supplemented by specialist training or equivalent experience/working knowledge.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a healthcare setting with multi disciplinary teams across organizational boundaries
- Knowledge of the equality and diversity of issues around formalities following a death with emphasis on the special requirements for the various faith groups
- Current Professional Registration
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Understanding of the Medical Examiner system and its operational remit as a stand-alone office
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a healthcare setting with multi disciplinary teams across organizational boundaries
Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Deborah Fox
- Job title
- Deputy Chief Nurse
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01535 294018
- Additional information
Other contact
Michelle Mitchell, Medical Examiner's Officer 01535 294818
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