Medical Examiner Process
Overview/Purpose
This article covers the new Medical Examiner Referral process. We explain:
- Background information about the process
- Important changes to be aware of
- How to find resources within the PCIT toolset to make the process as smooth as possible
Background information about the process
A new statutory medical examiner system is being rolled out across England and Wales to provide independent scrutiny of deaths. From 9th September 2024 all deaths in any health setting that are not investigated by a coroner will be reviewed by NHS Medical Examiners.
Information from NHS England about these changes can be seen in more detail here.
The Department of Health and Social Care give guidance on "An overview of the death certification reforms" which can be found here.
Important changes to be aware of
Changes to the requirement to see a patient pre mortem
The new process represents a simplification of the current rules, in that medical practitioners will be able to complete a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) if they have attended the deceased in their lifetime, so there is no need to have seen the patient pre mortem as exists prior to rollout.
All patients who die will need referring to a Medical Examiner
This new process will require all deaths to be reported to the Medical Examiner. The only exception are those who are referred to the coroner. The MCCD must be sent to the Registrar office by the Medical Examiners office when they have completed it. Therefore the completed MCCD by the GP must be sent to the Medical Examiner office by the GP and not direct to the Register office.
What do I need to tell the next of kin?
It is wise to inform them of this new process and let them know that they will be contacted by the Medical Examiners office who will also inform them when the MCCD has been passed to the Register Office.
Death registration
Deaths will not be registered until the registrar receives notification of the cause of death from the Medical Examiner or the coroner. This notification will also start the 5 day statutory time frame to register a death.
Finding out how to register a death can be obtained here.
Patients can find out the details of their nearest register office here.
Useful guidance on what to do when someone dies can be found here.
Where can I find out more?
There are some useful podcasts:
- GPs and Medical Examiners working together
- Changes to the death certification process adn introduction of the statutory medical examiner system
How to find resources within the PCIT toolset
Admin OneTemplate
The Admin OneTemplate can be used to collect structured information when the practice is notified that a patient has died. This includes word scripts for your team to use when collecting this sensitive information. To enter this information open the Admin OneTemplate and Death (registration admin) tab.
Users can see all the required information to record to aid with the process:
Once this information has been completed and the status of the patients registration has been updated, the clinician who will be completing the MCCD can be tasked to complete this
OneTemplate for Clinicians
When opening the OneTemplate Clinicians in a deceased patient, the "Death - Doctor's section" page will be available:
This will show the following information:
Here the user can record all information about the cause of death as well as either seeing the previous information or updating it if required.
The Medical Examiner ME-1A document is provided within the Doctors section. This takes data that has been entered in Admin and Clinicians templates and merges it into your local document for referral to the Medical Examiner using the MCCD form. For the information to merge into the document you will need to save the information entered on the template, then re-entre the template to launch the Medical Examiner referral form.
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