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Written question asked by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Thursday, 7 September 2023, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 September 2023. It was answered by Lord Bellamy (Conservative) on Tuesday, 19 September 2023 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Funerals: Standards

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of delays in funerals being caused by (1) the existing system for registering a death, (2) the number of available pathologists, (3) delays in completion of Medical Certificate Cause of Death forms and access to local GPs, (4) the availability of mortuary storage at local hospitals and public mortuaries, and (5) any delays by medical examiners.

Answer

Whilst the Government does not have operational responsibility for the provision of funeral services, we are aware of funeral delays in some areas and acknowledge that these are often exacerbated by pressures from within the wider death management system.

Government departments are taking a collaborative approach to reforming the death registration system as part of the roll out of the statutory medical examiner scheme which will come into force in April 2024. The doctor who attended the deceased during their last illness has a legal responsibility to complete a Medical Certificate Cause of Death (MCCD) as soon as possible to enable the registration of the death to take place. Guidance for doctors on completing an MCCD, available on Gov.uk, emphasises this point. As part of the work on the statutory medical examiner scheme, the Department of Health and Social Care is looking at expanding the pool of doctors who can sign the MCCD forms. When the demand on civil registration services is high, death registration appointments will always take priority over other registration appointments.

The Government continues to look at wider improvements to the death management system’s capacity and resilience, including mortuary capacity. The shortage of pathologists is a long-standing and cross-cutting issue. The Government is determined to make progress as soon as practicable. To that end, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State is engaging with Ministerial colleagues to implement effective solutions through a cross-government action plan.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL9990
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Death Funerals General practitioners Staff Registration Standards Mortuaries Pathology
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk