Please note that due to recent legislative changes, there will be a delay in the registration service contacting you to book an appointment.
You will first get a call from the Medical Examiner’s Office informing you that the paperwork has been sent.
We will then reach out to you once we have received it.
The statutory time to register a death has been changed to 5 days from the date we receive the paperwork.
Changes to the death registration process from 9 September 2024
A new statutory medical examiner system is being rolled out across England and Wales to provide independent scrutiny of deaths, and to give bereaved people a voice.
From 9 September 2024 all deaths in any health setting that are not investigated by a coroner will be reviewed by NHS medical examiners.
The changes, which form part of the Department of Health’s Death Certification Reforms, were announced by the government on 15 April 2024, and come into force on 9 September 2024.
As part of the changes, there will be a new medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD).
From 9 September 2024, medical practitioners will be able to complete an MCCD if they attended the deceased in their lifetime.
This represents a simplification of the current rules, which before 9 September require referral of the case to a coroner for review if the medical practitioner had not seen the patient within the 28 days prior to death or had not seen in person the patient after death.
Medical examiners
Medical examiners are senior medical doctors who are contracted for a number of sessions a week to provide independent scrutiny of the causes of death, outside their usual clinical duties.
They are trained in the legal and clinical elements of death certification processes.
The purpose of the medical examiner system is to:
- provide greater safeguards for the public by ensuring independent scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths
- ensure the appropriate direction of deaths to the coroner
- provide a better service for the bereaved and an opportunity for them to raise any concerns to a doctor not involved in the care of the deceased
- improve the quality of death certification
- improve the quality of mortality data
What these changes mean for you
- Terminology change from medical practitioner of doctor to Attending practitioner (AP).
- The AP will forward the completed MCCD to the Medical Examiner (ME) who will scrutinise the MCCD.
- The ME will contact representatives of the deceased and discuss the cause of death with them and establish if they have questions or any concerns with care before death.
- The MCCD will then be sent to the registrar by the medical examiner rather than the attending practitioner. The Registrar will then contact you to arrange the appointment for the registration of the death.
- Informants –additional qualified informant categories, those who can register a death have been introduced – these are the partner of the deceased and personal representative of the deceased.
Contact us at registration1@havering.gov.uk if you require more help with this.
You will be contacted by phone to arrange an appointment for you to attend in person.
There will be no need for relatives to collect the Medical Cause of Death Certificate from the GP, hospital, hospice or care home.
A scanned copy of the signed certificate will be emailed direct to the register office from the GP, hospital, hospice or care home.
The Registration Team will scan and email the green certificate for burial or cremation to the crematorium or cemetery and copy in funeral directors.
How do you book an appointment?
Once we have received your Medical Cause of Death Certificate from your GP, Hospital, Hospice or Care Home we will ring you to book an appointment for an in-person appointment which will be held at at one of our local offices.
We will take payment for any certificates you require, these are £12.50 each and will be issued at the end of your appointment when you attend our offices.
During your registration appointment
You will be asked details about the person who has passed away, this will include:
- the person’s full name at the time of death
- any names previously used, eg maiden name
- the person’s date and place of birth
- their last address
- their occupation
- the full name, date of birth and occupation of a surviving or late spouse or civil partner
- whether they were getting a State Pension or any other benefits
You will be handed any death certificates you have previously paid for at the time of booking.
The Green Form (Certificate for Burial or Cremation) will be electronically sent to your Funeral Director and Crematorium/Cemetery, please bring these details with you.
Should you require any further copies in the future you can apply online by visiting our copy certificates page.
Our Tell Us Once team will create a unique reference number and email you your unique reference number (if your email has been provided) along with instructions on how to use the service.
Weekend on call service
We take calls on Sundays and bank holidays from 9am to 12noon.
The Medical Examiner (ME) will advise you when they have sent the Medical Cause of Death Certificate to registration1@havering.gov.uk along with the next of kin details for us to contact.
A registrar will need to check the certificate is correct and a Green Form can only be issued if everything is completed accordingly.
If all the paperwork is correct, we will scan and email it to the Funeral Director and burial / cremation authority.
The family will not be given the Medical Cause of Death.
An appointment will also be booked for the registration to be completed within 5 days of the Register Office receiving the paperwork.
Contact
Complete our online contact form
Call 01708 433481.