Job summary
Employer heading
Medical Examiner
NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
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
Job Overview
Job Title: Medical Examiner
Division: Corporate
Care Group: Medical Director’s
Band: N/A
Salary: Dependent on experience
Interview Date:
We are recruiting for a Medical Examiner who shares our ambition and vision to deliver the Best of Care by the Best People and has the drive to take us forward, by ensuring that the Trust continues to be the first choice for patients and our staff.
Main duties of the job
The ME team consists of a lead ME and up to 11 other MEs. We are looking for 2 colleagues to provide 1 session of 4 hours each week based on a 42-week year. We particularly need cover for afternoon sessions – Mondays. You would be expected to offer sessions with a degree of flexibility to fulfil a rota. There is currently no commitment beyond office hours except for the MEs participating in the Out of hours cover for weekends and Bank holidays (optional). The job is based at University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, but elements of the work will be possible remotely using electronic systems to scrutinise patient records and telephone calls to bereaved relatives and attending medical colleagues. Competence with electronic systems is necessary to review records and complete notes. Team working is important, particularly with other Medical Examiners and Medical Examiner Officers within the Team, Clinical teams, Coroners and Registrars. You should have up to date knowledge of medical practice and have completed the mandatory online learning by the time of interview and be in the process of registering for the face-to-face training with the College of Pathologists.
You must be currently registered with a license to practice with the GMC, have at least 5 years' experience as a fully registered medical practitioner and be currently practising or have retired in the last 5 years.
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:
- 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
- Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
- Improving the experience of staff with disability
- Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
- Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Main duties
· To ensure compliance with the legal and procedural requirements associated with the current and proposed reformed processes of certification, investigation by coroners and registration of deaths.
· To scrutinise the certified causes of death offered by attending doctors in a way that is proportionate, consistent and compliant with the proposed national protocol.
· To discuss and explain the cause of death with next of kin/informants in a transparent, tactful and sympathetic manner. It is anticipated that such discussions will be predominately conducted through telephone conversations where barriers to understanding information may exist.
· To ensure that all users of the ME system are treated with respect and are not discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability.
· To maintain comprehensive records of all deaths scrutinised and undertake analysis to provide information to the National Medical Examiner’s office.
· To participate in relevant clinical governance activities relating to death certification including audits, mortality review processes and investigations regarding formal complaints about patient care.
· To support the training of junior doctors in their understanding of death certification and promote good practice in accurate completion of MCCDs.
· To work with medical examiner officers (MEOs), delegating duties as appropriate.
· To engage with lead ME and lead MEO for the region.
· To adopt a collaborative working relationship with other MEs by sharing experiences and expertise to support peer learning and set uniform standards of service delivery.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered with a licence to practice in the UK by the GMC
- 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
Knowledge, Skills and Performance
Essential criteria
- Medical practitioner registered and licensed to practise in the UK by the GMC.
- A commitment to life-long learning and undertaking personal development opportunities.
- MEs should have up-to-date knowledge of causes of death and an understanding of the legal frameworks associated with death certification processes
- 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.
- Knowledge of the special requirements of various faith groups and respect for equality and diversity
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
Communication and teamwork
Essential criteria
- Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism.
- Ability to work effectively and efficiently within own team and also closely with people in other disciplines
- Ability to work as part of a team and organise a fluctuating workload around competing priorities and numerous interruptions
Personal qualities and behavioural attributes
Essential criteria
- Proactive and self-motivated with a flexible working approach
- Have the resilience to manage own reaction to frequently distressing situations and support others within the team.
- To sustain professional integrity and independence at all times, particularly where there is the potential for a conflict of interest
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Charles Mazhude
- Job title
- Lead Medical Examiner
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0208 3333 000
- Additional information
Interested applicants are encouraged to contact the Medical Examiner Office: [email protected] or 0208 836 4626 in the first instance, for the attention of:
Dr Charles Mazhude Lead Medical Examiner
Katie Wakeman Senior Medical Examiner Officer
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