When A Death Occurs

At Home

The first thing to do if your friend or relative has died at home is to contact their doctor. If satisfied with the cause of death, the doctor will agree to issue the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and will give you permission to contact the funeral director. Once we are contacted we will make immediate arrangements to bring your loved one into our care. If the doctor does not sign the certificate of cause of death, the doctor will liaise directly with the coroner (see section “When the Coroner is Involved”).

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Nursing Home or Hospice

If your loved one has passed away at a nursing home or hospice, the care staff will liaise directly with the doctor on your behalf, and the process outlined above will be the same. If you have already nominated a funeral director, the care team will contact us directly. However, if you are undecided they will likely give you a list of local funeral directors to choose from.

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At the Hospital

After the death, your loved one will be moved to the hospital mortuary. The doctor looking after your loved one will either refer matters to the coroner or will issue the certificate of Cause of Death. If the latter is issued, you will need to make arrangements to pick this certificate up as soon as possible as this certificate will be needed when you are registering the death. At this point, it is best to contact your nominated funeral director. If you contact us, we can advise and support you in all that is required and guide you through the funeral arranging process.

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Away from Home or Abroad

If your loved one dies away from home, i.e. abroad or on holiday, please contact us at the earliest opportunity so we can support you in the best way. If the death has occurred in another country, we can liaise directly with the authorities abroad to ensure the correct procedure is followed in returning your loved one home.

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Registering a death

The Registrar will need the following:

• The deceased date and place of birth

• Their full name and the maiden surname of a women who is married, also if the name has changed at any time              

• The date and full place of their death

• Their occupation if the deceased was a married lady or a widow the full name and occupation of her husband will also be recorded

• The home address of the deceased

• Whether or not they had a pension or were claiming benefits

• The date of birth of their surviving spouse (if applicable)

• They will also need the medical certificate of death, the deceased NHS medical card and their birth certificate and marriage certificate. (If applicable).

• A green certificate will be issued by the registrar and we need to have this as soon as possible.