Tag

Medical Examiners

Recommendations related to medical examiners

8 recommendations 100% accepted

Tag overview

Government Response
Accepted (7)
Accepted in Part (1)
Recommendations in This Theme

recommendation across 3 inquiries

Across 3 inquiries

Tagged Recommendations

8 total
IHRD-5 Accepted Hyponatraemia Inquiry

Employment Contracts and Duty of Candour

Trusts should review their contracts of employment, policies and guidance to ensure that, where relevant, they include and are consistent with the duty of candour.

- The Department of Health NI reported that contractual obligations relating to the duty of candour were under development (IHRD Implementation Programme, Department of Health …
Northern Ireland Executi… HSC Trusts
IHRD-87 Accepted Hyponatraemia Inquiry

Independent Medical Examiner

The Department should now institute the office of Independent Medical Examiner to scrutinise those hospital deaths not referred to the Coroner.

- The Department of Health NI stated in March 2018 that prototypes for an Independent Medical Examiner service were progressing (IHRD Implementation Programme, Department of …
Department of Health NI
39 Accepted Morecambe Bay Investigation

Implement medical examiner system

There is no mechanism to scrutinise perinatal deaths or maternal deaths independently, to identify patient safety concerns and to provide early warning of adverse trends. This shortcoming has been clearly …

- The available evidence indicates partial implementation. A statutory medical examiner system now scrutinises non-coronial deaths in England, but the 2025 report does not separately …
Department of Health and…
40 Accepted Morecambe Bay Investigation

Extend medical examiners to stillbirths

Given that the systematic review of deaths by medical examiners should be in place, as above, we recommend that this system be extended to stillbirths as well as neonatal deaths, …

- In July 2015, the government stated: "We accept these recommendations in principle" (covering recs 39 and 40) but noted that "medical examiners would scrutinise …
Department of Health and…
F275 Accepted in Part Mid Staffs Inquiry

Independent medical examiners

It is of considerable importance that independent medical examiners are independent of the organisation whose patients' deaths are being scrutinised.

- NHS England stated in April 2025 that operational arrangements at NHS bodies must support the independent role of medical examiners and that combining these …
Department of Health and…
F276 Accepted Mid Staffs Inquiry

Independent medical examiners

Sufficient numbers of independent medical examiners need to be appointed and resourced to ensure that they can give proper attention to the workload.

- NHS England stated in April 2025 that all acute NHS Trusts have established medical examiner offices and have been asked to ensure they have …
Department of Health and…
F278 Accepted Mid Staffs Inquiry

Death certification

It should be a routine part of an independent medical examiners's role to seek out and consider any serious untoward incidents or adverse incident reports relating to the deceased, to …

- Regulation 6 of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Regulations 2024 requires medical examiners to carry out a proportionate review of medical records …
Healthcare providers
F281 Accepted Mid Staffs Inquiry

Appropriate and sensitive contact with bereaved families

It is important that independent medical examiners and any others having to approach families for this purpose have careful training in how to undertake this sensitive task in a manner …

- The Medical Examiners (England) Regulations 2024 require medical examiners to undertake training to ensure they have the skills to carry out their functions (The …
Department of Health and…