The Medical Examiners (Wales) Regulations 2024

Additional functions of medical examiners

7.—(1) In addition to the functions set out in section 20(1) Regulations, a medical examiner has the following functions—

(a) providing advice to registered medical practitioners in relation to the functions of attending practitioners under section 20(1) Regulations;

(b) providing advice to senior coroners for the purpose of assisting a senior coroner in deciding whether there is a duty to conduct an investigation into a particular death under section 1 of the Act (duty to investigate certain deaths);

(c) participating in the establishment, review and updating of any local protocols of the appointing body;

(d) maintaining records in relation to deaths in respect of which the medical examiner has exercised functions under section 20(1) Regulations;

(e) obtaining and considering such information as is reasonably available to them in respect of trends and unusual patterns of certified causes of death, public health surveillance, patient safety and clinical governance for the purpose of informing their professional judgement as to the cause of death in a particular case;

(f) providing information and preparing reports to meet any reasonable request made by or on behalf of—

(i) the appointing body, for the purpose of monitoring the performance of medical examiners,

(ii) Public Health Wales National Health Service Trust, for the purposes of the Trust’s functions under article 3 of the Public Health Wales National Health Service Trust (Establishment) Order 2009(1) (nature and functions of the trust),

(iii) a Safeguarding Board, for the purposes of that Safeguarding Board’s functions under regulation 4 of the Safeguarding Boards (Functions and Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2015(2) (practice reviews) where a senior coroner has decided that the deceased’s death is not a death for which a duty to investigate arises under section 1 of the Act (duty to investigate certain deaths),

(iv) the Statistics Board, or

(v) the National Medical Examiner;

(g) identifying training needs of registered medical practitioners in relation to death certification, and promoting and facilitating such training;

(h) keeping their own performance and service under review including through participating in peer audits and service reviews.

(2) In the course of exercising a relevant function, medical examiners must report any serious concerns identified in respect of clinical governance, patient safety or public health surveillance in accordance with local reporting arrangements.

(3) For the purposes of this regulation—

“information” (“gwybodaeth”) includes information identifying a particular individual;

“local protocol” (“protocol lleol”) means a memorandum of understanding made between the medical examiner’s appointing body and other persons and bodies whose functions include or are connected with the certification of deaths, setting out the administrative arrangements which are to apply to facilitate the efficient and timely certification of deaths;

“Safeguarding Board” (“Bwrdd Diogelu”) means a Safeguarding Children Board or a Safeguarding Adults Board(3);

“the Statistics Board” (“y Bwrdd Ystadegau”) means the body corporate established by section 1 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007(4) (establishment).

(1)

S.I. 2009/2058 (W. 177), to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

(2)

S.I. 2015/1466 (W. 160).

(3)

Safeguarding Children Boards are established by the Safeguarding Board lead partner in relation to children for the area in accordance with section 134(4) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (anaw 4) (“the 2014 Act”). Safeguarding Adults Boards are established by the Safeguarding Board lead partner in relation to adults for the area in accordance with section 134(5) of the 2014 Act. Safeguarding Board lead partners are specified by the Welsh Ministers in regulation 4 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Safeguarding Boards (General) (Wales) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1357 (W. 131), amended by S.I. 2018/494 (W. 85) and S.I. 2019/349 (W. 83)) (“the 2015 Regulations”), from among the list of Safeguarding Board partners set out in section 134(2) of the 2014 Act. Safeguarding Board areas are specified in regulation 3 of, and Schedule 1 to, the 2015 Regulations in accordance with section 134(1) of the 2014 Act.

(4)

2007 c. 18.