Bereavement

Please accept our sincere condolences if you are visiting this site following the loss of a relative or friend. When someone you care about dies, even if it was expected, it is often hard to take in.

Our Bereavement Officers offer help, advice and guide you through the processes following the loss of a loved one.

We will:

• co-ordinate the completion of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) and relevant paperwork, we aim to complete this within five working days

• advise if a death is referred to the coroner

• provide you with information on how to register the death

• look after and arrange collection of the deceased’s property

• liaise with outside agencies as appropriate – GP’s, Coroner’s Office, Funeral Directors, Registry Office etc.

• offer you resources if you feel you need some support.

What to expect

We are here to help arrange the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Certificate (MCCD), so you can register your loved one’s death. 

You may have received a letter from the ward with information about this process already.

At this stage, please do not book an appointment with the Register Office, until you have been advised the MCCD is ready.

To help us arrange the MCCD, we will need from you:

• the name of the person who will be registering the death and organising the funeral

• the telephone number for the above person

• whether you will be arranging a burial or a cremation for the deceased

• the name of the funeral director you will be asking to look after your loved one

• the occupation of your loved one prior to their passing or retirement.

Please contact the Bereavement Office at the hospital where your loved one died, to provide the above information.

We will not call you for the first day or two.

Cremation or burial

We will need to know what the deceased’s wishes or your family would like to happen. If a cremation is decided, the hospital doctors will also complete the necessary form needed. When completed, the funeral director will be to collect this paperwork from our mortuary team. 

Belongings

The ward may have already given you your loved one’s belongings. However, if the Bereavement Office have received any belongings, we will contact you to arrange for these to be returned to you at your home, or for you to collect them. The Bereavement Office will discuss the arrangements with you. 

Contact our Bereavement Office

The Bereavement offices are open Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) to take calls.

You can also email us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Please note our phone lines can be very busy at times. If you are unable to get through, or it is after office hours, please leave a message on our answerphone with your name, telephone number and your enquiry. A member of the Bereavement team will respond as soon as they can.

You can contact the Bereavement teams at:

Medical Examiners Service

As part of the process, you will receive a phone call from a Medical Examiner Officer (MEO), who is independent of the Trust. This is routine and not a cause for concern.

The Medical Examiner Service provides independent reviews of all deaths in hospital Trusts.

The service is part of a national system. It was set up to improve the death certification process and give bereaved people a voice.

Medical examiners are senior medical doctors. They are not involved in the care of the deceased. They provide independent review of the causes of death, outside their usual clinical duties.

The service is designed to:

• provide bereaved families with greater transparency and opportunities to raise concerns about the care/death of their relative

• improve the quality and accuracy of medical certification of cause of death

• make sure referrals to coroners are appropriate.

Coroner’s Office

There are occasions when a patient’s death will need to be referred to the Coroner’s Office.  The main reasons to report a death are:

• a recent operation/procedure was performed

• death from industrial disease

• any suspicious, violent or un-natural death

• any drug/medication related deaths

• the doctor wishes to discuss the case

• the cause of death is unknown

• other reasons.

The Coroner’s Office will decide what action they take, based on the information provided by our hospital doctors. 

Reporting a death to the Coroner’s Office may result in a post-mortem. If one is required, the Coroner’s Officer will contact you to explain why.

If there is no post-mortem, we will be advised by the Coroner’s Office the cause of death agreed by the Coroner. The doctors within our hospital will then complete the MCCD and cremation papers, if needed.

A post-mortem will unfortunately delay you making arrangements for a funeral service. The Coroner’s Officers will give an approximate time scale.

Once the post-mortem is completed, all paperwork will be sent by the Coroner’s Office directly to the Register Office and you will be telephoned to complete the registration. 

The Coroner’s Officer will let you know when the paperwork has been passed to the Register’s Office.

For the Coroner’s Office enquiries please contact via:

• Email: KentandMedwayCoroners@kent.gov.uk

• Tel: 03000 410502.

You may also find the Government's guide to coroner service leaflet useful.

Finalising the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD)

If no coroner’s referral is needed and the cause of death is agreed and the Medical Examiner Service have completed their part, the doctors at our hospital will complete the MCCD.

We aim to complete this within five working days (Monday-Friday, excluding bank holidays) from the day we receive the notification. 

Please do not worry if it takes slightly longer. 

The registrars are aware this timeframe cannot always be met, and is dependent on each individual case. We need to ensure the paperwork is completed properly and we will keep you updated of the progress.

We aim to complete all of the paperwork as quickly as we can, as we appreciate people may be anxious to finalise arrangements.

Once the MCCD has been completed, we will send this electronically to the Register Office. We will then contact you to let you know.

Registering a death

Once you have been informed by the Bereavement Office that the MCCD has been completed and sent to the Register Office, you will be able to make an appointment to register the death. 

The Register Office advise to only book an appointment if the hospital has made you aware that the MCCD has been sent to them.

To book an appointment to register a death, you must be either a:

• relative of the deceased

• person who was present at the death

• administrator from the hospital where the person died

• person arranging the funeral with the funeral director.

In order to register, the registrar will need to know:

• date and place of death

• usual address of deceased

• full names and surname (and maiden name if the deceased was a woman who had married)

• date and place of birth

• occupation (This was their most recent occupation, prior to retirement or illness)

• marital status

• name of the deceased’s spouse or civil partner.

Once the death is registered, the Registers Office will provide you with:

• a certificate for burial or cremation (form 9), a green form to give to the funeral director. If the death has been referred to the coroner and the funeral is a cremation, the equivalent form will be sent by the coroner to your funeral director

• a certificate of registration of death (BD8 form) a white form to be completed and sent by you, with any benefit or pension details to the Department of Work and Pensions. Copies of the original death certificate can be purchased at £11.00 each on the day of registration, using a card or cash.

How to arrange an appointment

Tel: 03000 415151

Register a death on the Kent County Council website

Further support

Bereavement is never easy and everyone’s experience is different, when someone you care about dies, even if it was expected.

If you would like some help and support coping with your loss, the Bereavement Services team can provide you with some information, please do ask. Here are some resources which may help you:

Once again we would like to pass on our condolences, to you and your family following your loss.

For more information and advice, please take a look at the information on each organisation’s website or contact one of the Bereavement Offices.