Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Paragraph: 136
In the medium term the Ministry of Justice should work with the Department of Health...
Conclusion
In the medium term the Ministry of Justice should work with the Department of Health and Social Care so that pathologists’ work for coroners is planned for within pathologists’ contracts with NHS trusts.
Paragraph Reference:
136
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We accept this recommendation on the basis that all these departments and others such as the Chief Coroner’s office should work together on this issue. NHS England and Improvement are supportive of working with departments on scheduling coroner commissioned post-mortems into NHS consultant pathologists’ job plans. Currently this work is largely carried out on a voluntary fee earned basis by consultant pathologists outside their NHS contracts which can be unhelpful to both the NHS and coroner services. Given the national and international shortage of a consultant pathologist workforce, however, it will be important not to undermine NHS service delivery in meeting the demands of coronial post-mortems. It is nevertheless recognised that an integrated approach is likely to minimise the impact of shortages on both NHS and coroner services.