When Someone Dies

When you are called upon to arrange a funeral it can be a very stressful and confusing time. Alfred Dunham & Son Ltd funeral directors have many years of experience and we are here to assist you in any way we can.

Please find below the process of what to do next when the death occurs:

Death at Home

• Should the death occur at home, you will need to inform their doctors practice (or the on-call doctor) as soon as possible. Once the doctor has attended and certified death, please then call us on our 24 hour line 01246 413205 to arrange for us to take your loved one into our care.

Death in a Hospital or Hospice

• If the death occurs in a hospital, you will be directed to the hospital’s bereavement team. Your loved one will remain in the hospital/hospice mortuary until the death has been registered. Once this has taken place, we will make arrangements to convey your loved one into our care.

Death in a Care Home

• In the event that the death occurs in a care home, the nursing staff will call a doctor who will come to certify Death. The care home will then contact us to take your loved one into our care.

In all of the above cases, a medical practitioner will then complete a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) and will send this to a Medical Examiner.

The Medical Examiner will independently scrutinize the case and will contact you to confirm the cause of death and answer any questions you may have. They will then confirm if you can register the death at the local registry office. The death must be registered within five days from this point.

When a death is reported to a coroner

A Medical Examiner may report the death to a coroner if the:

• Cause of death is unknown
• Death was violent or unnatural
• Death was sudden and unexplained
• Person who died was not visited by a medical practitioner during their final illness
• Medical certificate isn’t available
• Death occurred during an operation or before the person came out of anaesthetic
• Medical certificate suggests the death may have been caused by an industrial disease or industrial poisoning