Death in a Hospital

When someone dies in hospital, an attending physician or registered nurse from the Ward will confirm the death. The Ward will then inform the Bereavement Centre of the death.

The Bereavement Centre in larger hospitals has the responsibility for liaising with the family on a variety of different matters – including producing the paperwork following the death, the return of personal belongings to the family and making arrangements for the release of the deceased into the care of a local Funeral Director.

Bereavement centres are not open at weekends or bank holidays, and their hours of operation vary between hospitals.

You will usually be given an advice booklet by the Ward staff with the Bereavement Centres’ number in a prominent position. We recommend that you contact the Bereavement Centre the next working day following the death. They will confirm some basic information with you and ensure that they have your correct contact details.

The Bereavement centre will arrange for a doctor who attended the deceased to complete some paperwork, which will include the proposed cause of death, and this will be sent to the Medical Examiner’s office.

Medical Examiners, are independent senior Doctors whose role is to scrutinise paperwork following a death. Part of their role is to discuss the proposed cause of death and the circumstances with you, to enable you to ask any questions or raise any concerns you may have.

If there are any questions about the cause of the death, such as whether it was sudden or unexpected, or could have been caused by a recent fall or a hospital procedure, either the doctor or the Medical Examiner may refer the death to the Coroner.

You may then receive a call from the Coroner’s office to ask you some questions and advise whether or not they will need to become involved.

The amount of time it takes hospitals to make the practical arrangements for a death to be certified and registered can vary, depending on the hospital and circumstances in which the death occurred.

The Bereavement Centre will be able to advise you on expected timescales for certifying and registering the death.

Larger General Hospitals, such as Nottingham University Hospitals (QMC and City) or Royal Derby Hospital have mortuary facilities to enable them to look after the deceased until the necessary paperwork is completed. Only then will they release the deceased into the the care of a Funeral Director.

To allow us to bring the deceased into our care at Gillotts, we will need to meet with you to get your signature, which gives us your permission to collect them from the hospital.

We can then make an appointment at the hospital to transfer the deceased to one of our funeral homes

You are welcome to contact us whenever you feel you are ready to start discussing the funeral arrangements.

Even if the hospital is still completing the paperwork to send to the Medical Examiner, or the Coroner is investigating, we can still meet with you to discuss your thoughts about the funeral, offer advice and suggestions for personalising the funeral and answer any questions you may have.

Many people think that they can’t contact a funeral director until the death has been registered, but we find that meeting with us whilst the paperwork is being processed, can be a big relief to families.

If you choose to make an appointment to meet with us at this stage, we will not be able to set a date for the funeral until the paperwork has progressed and we are confident that the registration process is proceeding, but we can still discuss the funeral arrangements you would like to make.

Or if you prefer to wait until paperwork is completed by the Medical Examiner or the Coroner, before meeting with us, then this is also fine. We’re here to help you when you are ready.