The government has confirmed that the death certification reforms will be enacted from April 2024, including the role of the medical examiner (ME) becoming statutory.

Once the new death certification process comes into force, all deaths in England and Wales will be independently reviewed by a medical examiner or a coroner.

The main changes:

• NHS trusts hosting a medical examiner office should provide adequate support and ensure the independence of medical examiners is respected.
• All other healthcare providers including GP practices should set up processes to start referring deaths to medical examiner offices if they have not already done so. There is a podcast on how medical examiners can support GPs and their work with bereaved people.
• Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England should ask all healthcare providers in their area to establish processes to refer relevant deaths to medical examiner offices for independent scrutiny as soon as possible.

Other changes including a new Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, which can be completed by a doctor who attended the deceased at any time (at present MCCDs can only be completed if the doctor saw the patient within 28 days before death or after death).

Read more here.