Support Service

Medical Examiner Service

Contact us

Email: ekhuft.medicalexaminerofficers@nhs.net

What we do

The Medical Examiner Service provide independent reviews of all deaths in hospital Trusts.

The service is part of a national system. It was set up to improve the death certification process and give bereaved people a voice.

Medical examiners are senior medical doctors. They provide independent scrutiny of the causes of death, outside their usual clinical duties. They are trained in the legal and clinical elements of death certification processes.

The service is designed to:

  • provide bereaved families with greater transparency and opportunities to raise concerns

  • improve the quality/accuracy of medical certification of cause of death

  • make sure referrals to coroners are appropriate

  • provide the public with greater safeguards through examination of all non-coronial deaths

  • support local learning by identifying areas for improvement.

If you are a healthcare professional, please find resources on our Medical Examiner Service for health professionals page.