Glenn Taylor Hampshire County Council Medical Examiners a local authority perspective LRSA Conference Dec 2012 Glenn Taylor Hampshire County Council Hampshire Scientific Service

“I’m in a room full of people and no one notices me!” Seen as a local authority tax Variations in costs/charges between authorities Additional burdens directive - Reconciliation of costs Quality assurance To quote the new Chief Coroner: “It is my purpose as Chief Coroner to provide leadership for the coroner system, to implement and develop reform, to create a more coordinated and accountable system, all with a national consistency and quality of standards and approach”. “Parliament has made its decision and I shall, of course, work within those parameters”. Hampshire Scientific Service

Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton - excludes Isle of Wight Frimley Park Hospital share ME with Surrey?

Hampshire Scientific Service Solo or in concert? Total Deaths ME FTE MEO FTE Doctors etc FTE Portsmouth and SE Hants 6128 2.0 3.1 0.8 Southampton and SW Hants 4714 1.5 2.4 0.6 Central Hants 2478 1.3 0.3 NE Hants 2513 For example 0.8 ME equates to approx 32 hours cover per week, in NE Hants I’ll need to consider the two hospitals Numbers of deaths based on calculation for illustrative purposes only Hampshire Scientific Service

Hampshire Scientific Service Issues How will we recover money – informant? Will I really need to rent offices in 5 hospitals when a central office would be more effective and efficient? Will COs and MEOs co-habit? Do the numbers stack-up? (ME etc) Will the process change when medical records are available electronically? Long-term impact: on Coroner’s workload Numbers of reported deaths are likely to fall by ~20-25% Form 100B cases are likely to rise by ~9% Numbers of inquests are likely to rise by ~35% NB additional complexity of inquests on Pathologist’s workload Numbers of PM investigations to increase by ~21% Hampshire Scientific Service

Hampshire Scientific Service Thank you Comments and Questions glenn.taylor@hants.gov.uk Hampshire Scientific Service