Bereavement

If Death Occurs At Home

  1. Telephone the doctor who will visit to confirm death has taken place, this can also be done by district nurses if they visit your home and are present, or the ambulance service.
  2. Contact funeral director whenever you wish to make arrangements.
  3. A Doctor at the surgery will refer the death (as per new legislation that came into place September 2024, see link below for more info) for review to the Medical Examiner Service.
  4. The Medical Examiner will then be in touch with the NOK to discuss next steps, the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death will be sent electronically to the registrar, there is no need to collet this from the practice and take yourself to the registrar. You will still need to take the deceased's Medical Card and Birth Certificate, if available.
  5. The Registrar will normally issue a Green coloured certificate for you to give to your funeral director who will look after necessary arrangements for the funeral. The Registrar will also issue a white notification certificate for the DSS. They will also enquire as to the number of Certified Copies you require for dealing with the deceased finances (a fee is payable for each copy).

If Death Occurs In Hospital

  1. Medical Examiners and Medical Examiner Officers work closely alongside existing Bereavement Services in hospitals. If you would like to get in touch, please call the Medical Examiner Office or Bereavement department in the hospital and a member of their team would be happy to speak to you.
  2. After this follow steps 4-5 above

Note For Cremation

There is no longer a need for a cremation form to be completed with surgery or hospital, the relevant information for cremation can be found on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death.

Information and Support

You can also access a wide range of information and support for many different bereavement circumstances at The Good Grief Trust: http://www.thegoodgrieftrust.org/.

For more information on Medical Examiners, visit : Death certification reform and the introduction of medical examiners - GOV.UK