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Reporting Patient Deaths

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Contents:

Medical Examiners
1️⃣ Being told about a death
2️⃣ Update EMIS
3️⃣ Documentation & contacting the family
4️⃣ Completing the Referral
5️⃣ Referring to the Medical Examiners
6️⃣ Response from the Medical Examiners
7️⃣ Returning the MCCD
8️⃣ Deductions
Cremations

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Summary: Once the death of a patient is reported, referrals to the medical examiner take place before completing the MCCD (Medical Certificate of Cause of Death)

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Who’s it for: Reception Team, Care Coordinators, and GPs

Medical Examiners

All deaths in the community are reviewed by a Medical Examiner (ME) if they are not referred to the coroner.

In Lewisham, this service is provided by Lewisham & Greenwich Trust (LGT)
In Southwark & Lambeth, this service is provided by Guy’s & St Thomas’ Trust (GSTT)

Cases will be discussed with the next-of-kin, and the attending clinician.

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Referral inboxes & contact info

LGT → lg.medicalexaminerofficecommunitylgt@nhs.net

📞 0203 192 6045

GSTT → gst-tr.medicalexaminer@nhs.net

📞 020 7188 9450

1️⃣ Being told about a death

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Reception

If we get a phone call to notify us that a patient has died, please ask the caller for the following information and add to the patient's record (if it's not already there):

Full name, Last Address & Date of Birth
NHS Number (if available)
Full name and phone number of the person calling
Date of death, location & current location of body
Arrangements & Funeral Director (if known)
Next of Kin
Spiritual or Religious requirements (if any)

Pass the information on immediately to your 👤 Reception Lead.

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It’s likely we will be told by:

A family member
A member of staff from a residential or nursing home
A clinician from a secondary care facility
The police
The coroner’s office

2️⃣ Update EMIS

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Reception Lead

To prevent further distress to relatives, EMIS must be updated immediately to reflect the death of a patient:

Update registration status
Cancel any future appointments
Stop Texts auto-sending
Cancel any pending referrals
Cancel any pending letters to be sent
Urgently task the 👤 Care Coordinator so they can begin the certification process
Send a task to all surgery staff notifying them of the patient's death

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Death verification

Verification can be completed by any competent adult, therefore there is no obligation for a doctor to visit and view the body. It’s usually done by district nurses, paramedics, the police or funeral directors.

3️⃣ Documentation & contacting the family

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Care Coordinators

Open EMIS Template: Death Documentation (Ardens)
Make contact with the family, and complete the ‘Non-Clinical Information’ section
Inform the family they will be contacted by the medical examiner, and send them the 'Medical Examiner info for families' via Accurx. Once this has been completed, they will be contacted by us to inform them of how to register the death.
Task the 👤 GP who last attended the patient to complete the clinical section & proposed MCCD. If the last GP who attended the patient is unavailable in the next ~72 hours (e.g. due to sickness, holiday, working pattern), task the Duty Doctor or Lead GP on site instead
Add the patient to discuss at the next clinical meeting
Following or during the clinical meeting, complete the 'After Death Analysis' section of the Death Documentation (Ardens) template.

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This process only applies to patients who have died in the UK.

For deaths abroad, please inform the family that they will need to provide the death certificate provided by the local authorities registry office. The government’s website has helpful information to help guide them: https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/death-abroad

4️⃣ Completing the Referral

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Any GP which has seen the deceased at least once in their lifetime

Check over the records so far, and complete the ‘Clinical Information’ section of the Death Documentation (Ardens) EMIS template
Check if the patient was:

Referred to secondary care or were in the process of being referred
Receiving support from community services
A child (as the health visitor team must be informed)

Consider if the case needs to be referred to the coroner (see box 👉 for more info)

If you decide to refer to the coroner, do so by completing this online form

This applies if the body is lying in Southwark, Lambeth, Greenwich or Lewisham. If they are outside of these boroughs, they will need to be referred to the local coroner.

If not referring to the coroner, task the 👤 Care Coordinator to send the documents to the Medical Examiner

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If the death is suspicious or has any forensic involvement, the police will refer to the coroner

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Other reasons you may want to refer to the coroner

If unsure whether to refer to the coroner, speak to the Medical Examiner’s Office for advice

5️⃣ Referring to the Medical Examiners

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Care Coordinators

After the GP completes their section, open ‘Referral to Medical Officer’ on DXS which will self-populate
Please attach as much information as possible (e.g. hospital letters etc.)
Email the referral form to the relevant Medical Examiner 👉

Referrals should be made to the Medical Examiner local to where the person died. We have listed details for Medical Examiners local to South East London on this page, but a full list of Medical Examiner details for England & Wales can be found online here.

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Referral inboxes

LGT (Lewisham & Greenwich) → lg.medicalexaminerofficecommunitylgt@nhs.net
GSTT (Lambeth & Southwark) → gst-tr.medicalexaminer@nhs.net
KCH (Bexley & Bromley) → kch-tr.communitymeoffice@nhs.net

6️⃣ Response from the Medical Examiners

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If the ME agrees with the GP’s proposed cause of death, they will contact the next of kin. If there are no significant concerns raised, the MEO will contact the GP to authorise writing the MCCD.
If the ME does not agree, they will contact the GP by email. If they cannot agree after a phone discussion, the patient will be referred to the coroner.
If at any point the NOK raises any significant concerns, the patient will be referred to the coroner.

7️⃣ Returning the MCCD

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When instructed by the MEO, complete the MCCD with the agreed cause of death
Pass to the care coordinator for scanning, and sending back to the MEO
This should never be given to the family, or sent directly to the registrar

8️⃣ Deductions

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Reception Lead

Deductions should happen when:

We receive confirmation from the hospital/coroner that the MCCD has been sent to the registrar
Abroad: Once we’ve seen the death certificate

They may happen automatically, in which case they can be accepted once we’ve checked the MCCD has been sent.

Cremations

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Cremation forms have been abolished, and are handled by the medical examiners.

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Resources: