What is the Medical Examiner Service

The Medical Examiner Service is a national initiative to enable independent review of all deaths by a Senior Doctor/ Consultant. This review will take place before the MCCD is raised and released to the family.

The Medical Examiner Service will

• Make sure the bereaved receive a better service by giving them the opportunity to raise any concerns or worries they may have about the care and/or death of their loved ones with an independent, impartial party not involved in the care of the deceased.

• Provide better safeguards, ensuring complete proportionate scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths and to improve the quality of MCCD’s by making sure they are accurate and true to cause.

• Ensure deaths that should be referred to the Coroner are referred appropriately in the required timescale.

This service will also allow the relatives first access to the wording on the MCCD and ability to ask further questions to understand clearly what happened to their loved ones .