Band 5 Medical Examiner Officer

An opportunity has arisen to become part of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) Medical Examiner Service, as a Medical Examiner Officer (MEO).

The ME Service has recently been established across England and Wales to improve the quality of death certification and provide an independent layer of scrutiny when somebody passes away. This system is designed to give bereaved families a voice and better understand the circumstances surrounding a death. As of the 9th September 2024 this service has become statutory meaning it will be mandatory for all deaths to be scrutinized by the Medical Examiner Service or investigated by HMC.

We recognize that MEOs are integral to the service and are fundamental in allowing Medical Examiners to conduct timely scrutiny of deaths that occur at our acute hospitals or in the community. This role is cross-site, meaning the successful candidate will work at both Queen's Hospital and King George Hospital on a rostered basis (a free staff shuttle bus can be used to transit between sites).

This is a small, collaborative team where every member feels valued and is encouraged to innovate and perform at their best. We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic and passionate about contributing to our growing service. Additionally, due to the nature of the role the successful candidate must have excellent interpersonal skills as they will be speaking with bereaved families.

To act as an intermediary between the bereaved and clinicians to establish and resolve any concerns relating to a patient’s death. This will also involve regular interaction with the bereaved relatives via telephone and occasionally in person. At times there can be significant emotional effort associated with dealing with bereaved families. The post holder must have the ability to demonstrate empathy and remain professional at all times.

We’re an organisation that is getting better and better. We were the most improved Trust in England for A&E performance in 2023/24; we’re no longer in special measures; and Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive, has been named the top CEO by the Health Service Journal. Our improvements are driven by a determination to deliver care we’re proud of and that our patients are happy with.

Many of our 8,000 staff – who come from 146 different countries - live in the three diverse London boroughs we serve and the majority are from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. More than 400 of them are on apprenticeship programmes and we’re proud to be a London Living Wage employer.

We operate from two main sites - King George Hospital (KGH) in Goodmayes and Queen’s Hospital in Romford. We have two of the busiest emergency departments in London – more than 300,000 people visited our A&Es in 2023.

Patients across north east London are benefitting from two new state of the art theatres at KGH and our Community Diagnostic Centres at Barking Community Hospital and St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub will significantly increase the number of scans that can be carried out.

We’re looking forward to introducing an electronic patient record next year. This will mean the records of any patient visiting one of the seven hospitals run by BHRUT and Barts Health will be accessible to the clinical teams. It’ll make things easier for staff and will be better for patients.

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Shakthivel Prabaharan Job title: Senior Medical examiner officer Email address: [email protected] Telephone number: 01708435000

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