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Want to know which Medical Examiner looks after which GP Practice? Just click on our handy ME Office Finder link!

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Search for your local Medical Examiners Office

We understand this is a difficult time for you. For any initial questions, please feel free to reach out to your GP surgery.

Once the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) has been completed and sent by your GP, you may then contact the Medical Examiner's office directly for further assistance.

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Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of more than 410,000 people living in north Surrey.

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How do I find out a cause of death from the coroner?

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How do I find out a cause of death from the coroner?

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The coroner does not communicate outcomes of referral for unknown but natural CoD in 66% of England and Wales (49 out of 74 coroner areas).

However, attending practitioners (doctors) involved in making the coroner referral are able to apply to the coroner as follows:

Go to the Surrey Coroner Portal :WPC Coroners Portal

Go to 'Search' and 'All Referrals'

Look at ‘status’ column

If ‘discontinued’, the pathologist has issued an MCCD after PM so it was a Natural CoD (if 'closed, no duty', a CN1A has been issued and the doctor can complete the MCCD)

The referring doctors can then apply to the coroner's office for a copy of the post mortem report, which they are entitled to under Chapter 12 'Disclosure of Documents', para 46 of the Coroners Bench Book:

https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/disclosure-of-documents/

If an inquest has been opened, the options are to:

1. attend the inquest https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/birth-death-and-ceremonies/death/coroner/inquests/upcoming-hearings  or

2. wait until it is concluded and attend the coroner’s court in person to request a view of the Record of Inquest (which they can photograph)

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Overview process for death certification in Primary Care

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Overview process for death certification in Primary Care

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Updated overview process of death certificaiton in primary care

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URDU Information for the Public template

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PUNJABI Information for the Public template

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PORTUGUESE Information for the Public template

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POLISH Information for the Public template

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MANDARIN Information for the Public template

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GUJARATI Information for the Public template

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FRENCH Information for the Public template

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CANTONESE Information for the Public template

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ARABIC Information for the Public template

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Overview process for death certification and coroner pathways

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Overview process for death certification and coroner pathways

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Notifiable diseases and how to report them

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Notifiable diseases in humans that medical practitioners must report and how to report them.

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How to write an MCCD from 9th September 2024

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How to write an MCCD from 9th September 2024

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Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust7.19K

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Guidance on the new medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD)

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From 12:01am on 9 September 2024, medical practitioners will not be able to certify medical cause of death using the current MCCD.

What you need to know

The reforms to death certification and the introduction of medical examiners will start on 9 September 2024. As part of the changes, a new medical certificate of cause of death ( MCCD) will replace the current certificate.

Medical practitioners must use the new MCCD from 12:01am on 9 September 2024.

You will not be able to order the new MCCD from local registration services.

The Department of Health and Social Care will send the new MCCD to all organisations that use the current MCCD.

We have worked with local registration services to find out which organisations currently use MCCDs, but this list may be inaccurate or incomplete.

What you need to do by 15 July 2024
Check if your organisation is on the MCCD distribution list
Email mccd@dhsc.gov.uk if:

your organisation is not on the list but you think it should be

your organisation is on the list but the postcode is wrong

your organisation is on the list but you think it should not be

Contact us as soon as possible, but no later than 15 July 2024, to make sure you receive the new MCCD in time.

The new MCCD

There are 4 versions of the new MCCD:

attending practitioner MCCD (books of 50)

attending practitioner MCCD to certify the cause of death of a live-born child dying within the first 28 days of life (books of 25)

medical examiner MCCD (books of 50)

medical examiner MCCD to certify the cause of death of a live-born child dying within the first 28 days of life (books of 25)

Organisations that use the current MCCD will receive the attending practitioner MCCD. Hospitals will also receive the attending practitioner MCCD to certify the cause of death of a live-born child dying within the first 28 days of life.

Medical examiner offices will receive both of the medical examiner MCCDs.

Organisations in Wales will receive bilingual versions of the MCCDs.

See more information about the changes to the death certification process.

Receiving the MCCD

DHSC will send organisations that use the current MCCD:

1. A 6-month allocation of MCCDs.

2. Guidance on how to order additional MCCDs (if the first allocation will not last 6 months).

3. A unique passcode for ordering additional MCCDs.

These will be sent as 3 separate deliveries and each one will need to be signed for by the receiving organisation.

If no one at the organisation is available to sign for a delivery, the courier will try to deliver again on 2 further occasions. If you have 3 unsuccessful deliveries for any item, you should email mccd@dhsc.gov.uk.

Each item will be sent to a named person if we have this information. If not, they will be marked for the attention of:

the practice manager, if the organisation is a GP practice

the medical director, if the organisation is a hospital

the manager, if the organisation is a hospice

the medical examiner, if the organisation is a medical examiner office

Each organisation should receive enough MCCDs to last from September 2024 to February 2025.

A further 6-month allocation will be delivered in autumn 2024. Some organisations will not receive this if we estimate that the first allocation will last 12 months.

After 31 July 2024

Organisations on the published distribution list should receive the MCCDs, guidance and passcode by 31 July 2024.

Email mccd@dhsc.gov.uk after 31 July 2024 if your organisation is on the published distribution list and has not received all 3 items.

Only contact us before this date if:

your organisation is not on the list

the postcode is wrong

your organisation is on the list but it should not be

you have had 3 failed delivery attempts for an item

From 1 August 2024, DHSC will start sending MCCDs to:

organisations that were not on the published distribution list but contacted DHSC and asked to be added

organisations that have ordered additional supplies

Completing the MCCD

We'll publish updated guidance for 9 September on how to complete and send the MCCD.

Current MCCDs

You should continue to use the current MCCDs until 9 September 2024. At 12.01am on 9 September 2024, the MCCD booklets currently in use in England and Wales will become obsolete. You will get further information on what to do with obsolete MCCDs with your new MCCD booklets.

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Receiving the new medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD)

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How to get the new MCCD if your organisation uses the current MCCD.

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An overview of the death certification reforms - GOV.UK

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Surrey register offices - Surrey County Council

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Surrey register offices - Surrey County Council

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To register a death:

Please ask bereaved families to use below link, in order to book appointment with register office. Registration is still face to face:

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/birth-death-and-ceremonies/register-offices

or please call on tel: 0300 2001002

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We will need the following documents from the GP practice in order to do a comprehensive review as follows:

GP Community Death referral checklist with last 6 month EMIS consultation notes

GP Summary

MCCD

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Medical Examiner Referral Form - Final version (v1.4)

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New Universal MEO Referral form - Final version (002)

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Please send in all death referrals to the MEO for the case to be reviewed. These include deaths where there might have been an unnatural element. We will advise if a coroner referral is required. For example:

The deceased was not seen by a GP and/or the GP cannot offer a cause of death

The death occurred following a fracture/operation or the patient did not recover well

post-operatively

The death may be related to the deceased's previous employment

If the patient's death has been directly notified to the Coroner by the Police, but the death is natural, the coroner will email the GP Practice (copying in the ME office) and ask if an Attending Practitioner can offer the cause of death and is qualified in completing the AP MCCD (please follow the instructions in the coroner's email).

If an attending practitioner is identified, the coroner will issue a CN1A which confirms that the Coroner is not under a duty to investigate a death under section 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

The AP can now proceed in completing the MCCD which must be sent on to the MEO for countersignature and the ME officers will scan the MCCD to the Surrey Register Office and inform the family to proceed with registration.

The coroner may also contact the Medical Examiner's Office to conduct a review of the death in exceptional circumstances and where an AP is not available to sign the MCCD, the Medical Examiner may be able to complete a ME MCCD.

In line with the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, the Notification of Deaths regulations still apply and should you wish to refer directly to the coroner, please use the Surrey Coroner portal on the address shown below:

surrey-portal.coronersconnect.co.uk

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Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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Hospital Medical Examiners Office Feb 2021

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Medical Examiner's Office: Department Page

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Medical Examiner's Office: Department Page

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NW Surrey GPs (45 practices):

SASSE Network

Woking Wise

CoCO

WHAM

Walton

West Byfleet

East Elmbridge

Hospices:

Princess Alice Hospice

Woking Sam Beare Hospice

Non-acute hospitals:

Woking Community Hospital

Walton-on-Thames Community Hospital

Molesey Hospital

Runnymede Hospital

Woking Nuffield Hospital

Community Children's Nursing Team

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NHS England » The national medical examiner system

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A new statutory medical examiner system is being rolled out across England and Wales to provide independent scrutiny of deaths, and to give bereaved people a voice. From 9 September 2024 all deaths in any health setting that are not investigated by a coroner will be reviewed by NHS medical examiners. The changes, which form part of the Department of Health’s Death Certification Reforms, were announced by the government on 15 April 2024, and come into force on 9 September 2024. As part of the changes, there will be a new medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD). From 9 September 2024, medical practitioners will be able to complete an MCCD if they attended the deceased in their lifetime. This represents a simplification of the current rules, which before 9 September require referral of the case to a coroner for review if the medical practitioner had not seen the patient within the 28 days prior to death or had not seen in person the patient after death.