National Medical Examiner for England and Wales

Dr Alan Fletcher is the National Medical Examiner for England and Wales, appointed in March 2019. He was Lead Medical Examiner in Sheffield before this. He pioneered the medical examiner role since 2008 as part of the Department of Health reforms of death certification; personally reviewing over 22,000 deaths. He has overseen the introduction of the medical examiner system in England and Wales. It is expected that the medical examiner system will become statutory in April 2023. The medical system ensures that every death is scrutinised by a medical examiner or a coroner to ensure issues with patient care are identified promptly, and as a consequence, to improve services and care for patients overall. Core to the system is providing bereaved people the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have about the care and treatment provided to the deceased person. Dr Fletcher maintains his clinical practice as Consultant in Emergency Medicine and General Medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.