A new system requiring GPs to agree death certificates with a medical examiner is unlikely to launch at the beginning of April, it has emerged.
The system, which will see medical examiners (MEs) providing independent scrutiny of all deaths in the community which are not taken to the coroner, had previously been due to come in from April last year.
However, it was delayed by one year to allow time for Parliament to introduce the necessary supporting legislation and, according to the DHSC, this has yet to happen.
A spokesperson told Pulse that the Government’s intention is to still introduce secondary legislation ‘from April’ to implement death certification reform. However, it could not confirm the exact date the system will launch and said it would provide an update before the end of March.
Nottingham GP Dr Irfan Malik told Pulse that local GPs and practice staff ‘seem to be aware there is a delay’ but have had ‘no official emails’ or communication confirming the delays.
And the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) said: ‘It’s unfortunate to learn that the system is potentially being delayed yet again and we’re disappointed on behalf of our members who have been preparing for the implementation of the new scheme.
‘But more importantly, it could mean some of the logjams that bereaved families experience in laying loved ones to rest will continue for the foreseeable future.’
Under the new system, which has been piloted by GPs, all deaths not taken for investigation by a coroner will have independent scrutiny by a medical examiner, who is based in either an acute trust in England or local health board in Wales.
Once it becomes a statutory system, GPs who complete MCCDs will have to share this with the medical examiner in order to agree the proposed cause of death.
This means GP practices must have arrangements to share the records of deceased patients with their local ME office.
READERS' COMMENTS [4]
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Currently this is being being done differently in different areas; there’s no new (digital) MCCD form that includes the information about implanted devices etc. (so that the cremation forms can be dispensed with); there’s no sign of the required legislation; 2 false starts already… Is this another shambles?
When/if it does materialise, we will be doing more form-filling, taking up more of our time but we will also forgo the (small but appreciated) funding that was given for completing the old forms.
Brilliant
I’m a now locum in England and Scotland. The odd time I’ve been in a position to do a death cert, it’s just too complicated. One cannot even phone the coroner – procurator fiscal to get advice. Make them all coroner’s cases…it’s what is in effect going to happen?
This was piloted in parts of Wales in secondary care many years ago, and still, with all the parliamentary time available, government could not sort it!
I think the funeral directors are in for a shock though, I do not think it will help eradicate delays when it first comes in. It will take a while for GPs to work out what has gone wrong (and probably could have been predicted from pilots and legislated for) and then campaign for a way to resolve the issues. Yet again.
We don’t even have non-prescription-based allergy-specific food supplies yet, and that was being piloted in about 1989 .
The management of the deceased goes from bad to worse….
It can currently take 3 days for the medical examiner to get back in touch, so the funeral directors are finding the new system a big problem.
God forbid you need to inform the coroner – what was a quick phone phone call is now a 6 page online document.
The whole system introduces more risk of error and is much worse for families.
It can now take and hour plus to sort out a death – just another example of a rubbish system being foisted on primary care.