IMPORTANT INFORMATION
MEDICAL EXAMINER SERVICE APRIL 2024
The medical examiners office was introduced in April 2024 following a change in how practices conduct the death certification process. This has been implemented nationwide and is for all community services, including GP practices.
What Happens now?
When we are notified of a death by relatives or carers, we gather information regarding the patient's death and other important information that is requested by the Medical Examiner Office.
Once we have this information we refer this to the Medical Examiner at Mid Essex Trust. The Medical Examiner will then review the patient's medical records. Any concerns or queries they have, they will let us know directly or contact the patient's NOK. This is to make sure that when completing the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD), the document accurately reflects the details of the cause of death and that we don't miss any important information. The medical examiner service will then discuss the cause of death with the next of kin - you will be asked if it is what you expected and if you need any explanation. We encourage relatives to ask any questions or concerns they have at this stage. Once they have agreed with the cause of death, we can issue the medical certificate (MCCD) and this will be emailed to Essex County Council Registrar. We will do our best to notify you as soon as possible, however sometimes due to delays caused by external factors (bank holidays, staff sickness etc) there may be a delay in this information being passed on and the certificate being issued. If you have decided upon cremation, we will also make sure any paperwork for the crematorium is prepared asap. Any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to call the surgery or we can provide you with the Medical Examiner Office's number for you to contact them also.
For more information please see: MSE Medical Examiners for further information. For additional information regarding registering the death, please also see Essex County Council website. Please also check out Medical examiners service - Mid and South Essex ICB for important information from our local ICB.
MCCD (Death Certification Update Sept 2024)
We would like to express thanks to the relatives and NOKS (Next of Kin's) of patient's who have passed away and for your patience with the new ME (Medical Examiner) referral system that launched across Mid Essex back in April 2024. We appreciate that during the phasing in of this service, there has been difficulties and delays, however the system is now running at a much faster and efficient pace.
The Department of Health and Social Care have advised us that from the 9th September 2024, along with the already established ME system, a few changes are set to take place.
1) Death Certificates will look different. They are more detailed and have both the clinicians signature and then the medical examiners signature.
2) In the past we would send the completed certificate to the registrar. This is no longer the case. We will fill in the details as agreed with the medical examiner and then forward back to them. The medical examiner will then countersign and send this on to the registrar.
3) Cremation paperwork is no longer required. Both the GP and the medical examiner will NOT be providing this paperwork. We ask you direct queries to your funeral director of choice or the crematorium referees.
4) The patient's GP does not need to have seen the patient within 28 days in order to be able to sign the death certificate. Though it is preferred and favourable that the patient's doctor reviews and sees them regularly, if there is a reason this can not be done, this will not hold up the process.
We as a service of course are expecting some issues as the service establishes and do anticipate it to cause delays to begin with. We will keep relatives and NOKS up to date as much as possible during the transition.
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