In Times of Bereavement

If a Death Occurs at Home

  • Telephone the doctor, who will then visit to confirm that death has taken place.
  • You will then need to contact a funeral director.
  • Patients no longer needs to collect the death certificate from the surgery and it is automatically emailed to the registrar. Patients will need to contact the registrar directly. No death certificate are given to patient relatives. The doctor can only issue a death certificate if the individual has been seen in the last 14 days prior to death. If this is not the case, the GP will need to contact the Coroner and take advice. This will often happen if the patient was not palliative, and therefore is classified as an ‘unexpected death’ and a post-mortem may be needed.
  • Take your death certificate to the registrars office, (together with the deceased’s medical card and birth certificate, if available) for the area in which the death took place. Alternatively, you can register by declaration at any convenient registrars office, but certificates will not be available as these will have to be posted to you a few days later.
  • The registrar will then 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 The Death Occurs In Hospital

  • Please contact a funeral director to inform him that his services are required.
  • Then collect the certificate from the hospital, and continue to take it to the registrar’s office to register the death.

Note For Cremation

Your funeral director will usually liaise directly with the surgery regarding the additional certification required.