The Medical Examiner Service

The Medical Examiner Service is a national initiative to enable independent review of all deaths by a senior doctor or consultant in all hospital trusts. This review will take place before the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) is released to the family.

The Medical Examiner Service will:

• Make sure the bereaved receive a better service by giving them opportunity to raise any concerns about the care and/or death of their relative by an independent, impartial party not involved in the care of the deceased • Provide better safeguards, ensuring complete scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths and to improve the quality of death certification 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 family first access to the wording on the MCCD and to ask further questions to understand clearly what happened to their relative. Once this process is completed, all paperwork is passed to the Bereavement Team.