When someone has died, wherever it may be, the Doctor or G.P. will issue a Certificate Cause of Death within a few hours or days of the death occurring. Providing a registered RGN, District Nurse or Doctor has seen the person after death or has given permission, we are available 24hrs day for emergency call out to collect your loved one and bring them back to our premises into our care.
Please see Registering a Death for more information
When a death occurs and Coroner is notified
There are some instances such as a sudden death where a Doctor may not know or may not be sure of the cause of death; it is then that he or she will inform the Coroner.
Depending on the circumstances surrounding a death the Coroner may order a post mortem examination. If this should happen we keep in close contact with the Coroner’s Officer’s, who will inform us & yourselves if there is any need for an inquest or if the post mortem examination has shown that the death was due to natural causes.
If the death was due to natural causes, the Coroner will send his equivalent of The Doctor’s Cause of Death Certificate to the Registrar in charge of the district where the death occurred.
Once in receipt of this certificate the Registrar will be able to issue the Certified Copy of The Entry into the Register (Death Certificate), white form for Social Services & the Green Form for burial & in cases of cremation the coroner will issue the crematorium directly with an Order for Cremation (this replaces the Green Form).
If the death does not show natural causes e.g. someone has died as the result of a road traffic accident there will need to be an inquest. In most cases, after the post mortem examination has been carried out the Coroner will open & adjourn the inquest; this is done purely to allow the funeral to go ahead.
At this time the Coroner will issue you an Interim Death Certificate; this can be shown to Banks, Building Societies, Solicitors etc. as it officially informs them that the death has occurred. The Coroner will issue all documentation needed for the funeral to take place.
The Coroner will also issue you with Original Death Certificates once an Inquest has taken place – any one who was shown the Interim Certificate as proof of death will need to see an Original Death Certificate once it has been issued.
For more information, please click the download link below for the Ministry of Justice 'A Guide to Coroner Services for Bereaved People .