Job summary
Interviews for this role will take place on Monday 10th August 2026 in Trust Headquarters at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

This is a 1PA per week Trust Wide role.

We are seeking an experienced and compassionate medical professional to lead our Medical Examiner Service. This is a pivotal role in ensuring the quality, transparency, and sensitivity of death certification processes across the Trust.

You will provide clinical leadership to a team of Medical Examiners, ensuring that all deaths not referred to the Coroner are scrutinised appropriately. The role also involves supporting bereaved families, improving patient safety, and contributing to learning from deaths.

Main duties of the job
The Lead Medical Examiner will provide clinical leadership to ensure compliance with the legal and procedural requirements associated with the current processes of certification, investigation (HM Coroner) and registration of deaths within the local authority. The post holder will work collaboratively with the Medical Examiners by sharing experiences and expertise to support peer learning and standardise processes for service delivery. The post holder will work closely with all relevant stakeholders across County Durham and Darlington.

The main duties of the role are;

• Lead and manage the Medical Examiner Service across the Trust
• Ensure consistent and high-quality scrutiny of deaths in line with national guidance
• Provide expert advice on cause of death and certification processes
• Liaise with bereaved families to explain the cause of death and address concerns
• Oversee recruitment, training, and professional development of Medical Examiners
• Collaborate with the Coroners Office, Bereavement Services, and clinical governance teams
• Ensure compliance with statutory requirements and NHS England standards
• Support mortality surveillance

About us
If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.

You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.

We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients' homes.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.

Full Job Descriptions can be found in the adverts supporting documents.

Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances of success.

For the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and eligibility, please check online to determine whether you can apply.

Details
Date posted: 09 July 2026
Pay scheme: Hospital medical and dental staff
Grade: Consultant
Salary: £113,565 to £150,569 a year YC72 Pay Scale per annum pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time, Job share
Reference number: C9439-2627-712
Job locations: Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust, Hollyhurst Road, Darlington, County Durham, DL3 6HX, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Ensure compliance with the legal and procedural requirements associated with death certification, investigation by coroners and registration of deaths

• Provide leadership for the effective management of the Medical Examiners Office, including the supervision and development of any staff
• Engage with the lead Medical Examiner and Medical Examiner Officer for the region
• Adopt a collaborative working relationship with other MEs by sharing experiences and expertise to support peer learning
• Maintain uniform standards of service delivery. This will include providing feedback to MEs to take into their main appraisal as part of the whole scope of practice
• Undertake quality assurance of the service, providing feedback to MEs
• Work with medical examiner officers (MEOs), delegating duties as appropriate
• Provide leadership and direction to Medical Examiners upon appointment under the guidance of the Chief Medical Officer (notwithstanding the independent nature of the role)
• Lead complaint responses with regards to the medical examiner service
• Collaborate with trust patient safety and mortality review teams to enhance learning
• Continue collaborative working with HM Coroner and other stakeholders
• Maintain comprehensive records of all deaths scrutinised and undertake analysis to provide information to relevant stakeholders
• Facilitate routine analysis of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) information to include within quarterly reports required by the Regional and National Medical Examiner Office.
• Identify trends, patterns and unusual features of deaths and report to both the Trust patient safety and clinical governance teams and regional/national Medical Examiner Service.

Person Specification
Statutory Registration
Essential

• GMC registration with a licence to practice in the UK

Qualifications
Essential

• Medical qualification with extensive post registration experience
• Evidence of Continuous Professional Development
• Medical Examiner Training

Desirable

• General management qualification

Special Requirements
Essential

• Ability to travel to meet the requirements of the post

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working as a medical examiner

Special Skills & Knowledge
Essential

• Candidates must have completed the mandatory e-learning modules and attended a face-to-face training session (face to face where practicable, but asap thereafter) by the time they start the role.
• MEs should have up-to-date knowledge of causes of death and an understanding of the legal frameworks associated with death certification processes.
• The highest level of interpersonal and communication skills
• Able to lead and motivate others, strong influencing and negotiation skills.
• Ability to analyse highly complex organisational problems and develop and implement workable solutions.
• Ability to relate to a wide spectrum of NHS professionals with competing agendas and achieve organisation focused solutions to problems.
• Expert knowledge and understanding of legislation relating to medical practice.
• Able to assess priorities and make decisions, quick to grasp a point, able to think on feet, influence, persuade, give leadership and direction.
• Knowledge and understanding of key NHS issues, including national and local policy drivers that are complex and highly politicised.
• Highly developed knowledge and understanding of key organisation systems and NHS modernisation agenda.
• 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.
• 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.
• Strong interpersonal skills demonstrating the ability to communicate in difficult and emotional situations with empathy and professionalism.
• Have the resilience to manage own reaction to frequently distressing situations and support others within the team.
• Ability to work as part of a team and organise a fluctuating workload around competing priorities and numerous interruptions.
• To sustain professional integrity and independence at all times, particularly where there is the potential for a conflict of interest.

Desirable

• Ability to inspire others
• Service improvement and redesign techniques

Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.