Buckinghamshire medical examiner service
Read our guide below which includes information for families following a bereavement in the community.
You can also download a PDF version of this information by following the link on the right.
What is the medical examiner service?
It’s a team of medical examiners and medical examiner officers who provide support for bereaved families. They also help improve patient care.
Medical examiners are senior doctors from specialities including general practice who provide an independent review of deaths. They’re supported by a team of medical examiner officers. All staff are trained by the Royal College of Pathologists.
Medical examiners are an independent service led by NHS England, hosted by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
What do medical examiners and medical examiner officers do?
The medical examiner will only review cases where they have not been involved in the patient’s care. Medical examiners and medical examiner officers look at the relevant medical records and discuss the causes of death with the doctor completing the medical certificate of cause of death. It’s sometimes referred to as the MCCD or death certificate.
Why are we contacting you?
So you can have an open and honest conversation with someone who wasn’t involved in providing care to the person who died. It can help you understand more about the treatment and causes of death, or to explain the medical terminology used.
This is your opportunity to ask questions and raise any concerns you may have.
What happens if I raise any concerns?
Our team will listen to your questions, concerns and if possible, provide answers.
We’ll then review our notes and the discussion with you. If anything needs further investigation, we’ll feed back to the relevant teams.
This can help provide better care for other patients and families in the future. We’ll also forward any positive feedback.
What if I don’t want to speak to the medical examiner or their team?
We understand this can be a difficult time for many people. Speaking to someone is completely your choice. Our team are trained professionals who can guide and help you during this time.
If you prefer us, we can speak to someone else in your family and understand and reswpect your wishes.
Will this delay the funeral arrangements?
Medical examiners make every effort to avoid any delays and work with you to enable death registration in a timely way. We deal with each case individually and when necessary, support families with a request for the urgent release of their relative.