Lead MEO and Bereavement Service Manager

Lead MEO and Bereavement Service Manager

The closing date is 09 March 2026

The post holder will play a pivotal leadership role in shaping and delivering a high-performing, compassionate and forward-thinking Medical Examiners Service and Bereavement Service across London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH). With services operating across both Northwick Park and Ealing Hospital, and covering scrutiny for Acute and Community deaths across Harrow, Brent and Ealing, this role sits at the heart of ensuring high-quality, safe, and transparent patient care extending its impact well beyond the hospital walls.

As Lead Medical Examiner Officer, the post holder will work in close partnership with the Lead Medical Examiner and wider clinical teams to drive excellence in mortality governance, enhance the experience of bereaved families, and champion continuous service improvement. They will lead the operational delivery of a complex, high-profile statutory service, ensuring timely, consistent and independent scrutiny while also helping to steer LNWH's transformation of end-of-life pathways.

This is a unique opportunity for an influential and motivated leader to shape how families experience support at one of the most sensitive moments in their lives, build a cohesive cross-site service, and contribute directly to trust-wide learning, safety, and quality improvement.

Main duties of the job

• Oversee operational delivery of the Medical Examiner Office and Bereavement service.
• Support the Lead ME in providing oversight of the review of deaths by liaising with bereaved families, clinicians, Coroners, and external agencies, ensuring concerns are resolved, statutory processes are followed, and appropriate referrals (e.g., LfD, SJR, CDOP, LeDeR) are made.
• Support the Lead ME in analysing and reporting on data, themes, risks, and trends from ME scrutiny, ensuring actions, learning, and improvements are implemented and shared with Trust leaders and external stakeholders.
• Act as a highly skilled communicator, providing empathetic support to bereaved families, facilitating difficult conversations, ensuring clear communication with staff and partners, and participating in meetings with relatives.

About us

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) cares for the people of Brent, Ealing, Harrow and beyond.

Our team of more than 8,200 clinical and support staff serve a diverse population of almost one million people.

• Northwick Park Hospital: home to one of the busiest emergency departments (A&E) in the country. The hospital provides a full range of services including the country's top-rated hyper-acute stroke unit and one of only three hyper-acute rehabilitation units in the UK
• St Mark's Hospital: an internationally renowned specialist centre for bowel disease
• Ealing Hospital: a busy district general hospital providing a range of clinical services, as well as 24/7 emergency department and urgent care centre, and specialist care at Meadow House Hospice
• Central Middlesex Hospital: our planned care site, hosting a range of surgical and outpatient services and collocated with an urgent care centre.

We are a university teaching NHS trust, in recognition of the important role we play in training clinicians of the future and bringing the benefits of research to the public.

Job responsibilities

To view the main responsibility, please see the attached the Job Description and Person Specification.

Person Specification Education/qualifications

• Educated to Batchelor's degree level or equivalent working knowledge in related field.
• Completion of e-learning Medical Examiner Officer (MEO) core training modules.

Knowledge and experience

• Experience of working as a senior Medical Examiner Officer in the NHS.

Skills, abilities and attributes

• Ability to manage a team

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust

Address

Cross-site: Typical working pattern: Even split between Northwick Park and Ealing Hospital.

£53,751 to £60,651 a yearPer Annum Including High Cost Area Supplement

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

337-NP-9428LD

Job locations

Cross-site: Typical working pattern: Even split between Northwick Park and Ealing Hospital.