You first need to contact your loved one’s GP. This can be done at any time of day. If the GP practice is closed, your call will be diverted to the surgery’s on call service. 

Normally, a doctor, either the deceased’s own GP (during surgery hours), or the out-of-hours doctor, will need to come to the home to confirm that death has occurred. Occasionally, if a Registered Nurse or Paramedic is already in attendance, it may not be necessary for a doctor to attend. 

If it is clear that the death was expected, the attending doctor or medical professional will give verbal permission for the deceased to be transferred into the care of the Funeral Director. 

At this point, you can contact us by telephone at any time of day so we can bring your loved one into our care. Our telephones are answered 24 hours a day and we aim to attend within the hour. If for whatever reason this is not practically possible, we will give you an expected arrival time. 

If the death was sudden or unexpected, the attending Doctor or Medical Professional may instead have to inform the Coroner. This will be in circumstances when further investigation may be necessary to establish the cause of death and the deceased may have to be taken into the care of  the Coroner. In these circumstances, the attending Doctor or Medical Professional will be able to advise you on what will happen next, although please do not hesitate to contact us for advice. 

The staff will contact us to arrange for the deceased to be transferred into our care, once a doctor or attending Medical Professional has given permission for the deceased to be transferred into the care of a Funeral Director. 

We will liaise with the Care Home staff on your behalf and make the necessary arrangements for your loved one to be transferred into our care. 

Many Care Homes already keep notes on file about residents and their families’ wishes, for use in the event that a resident dies.  Notes that a Care Home might keep include details of which family member to contact, in the event of your loved one dying, or whether the family wish to be informed if they were to die in the middle of the night. They should also find out which funeral home you would like them to contact; if you have a relative in a care home, it may be helpful to ensure that they know which funeral home they should contact at the appropriate time. 

When someone dies in hospital, the process for releasing the deceased into the care of a Funeral Director can vary, depending on the size and type of hospital. 

Larger General Hospitals, such as Nottingham University Hospitals (QMC and City) or Royal Derby Hospital have facilities to enable them to look after the deceased, until the necessary paperwork is complete to release the deceased into their Funeral Director’s care. 

When an in-patient dies in a General Hospital, such as the Nottingham University Hospitals or Royal Derby Hospital, the ward staff will provide the family with the details for how to get in touch with the hospital’s Bereavement Centre. 

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

It normally takes 1 – 2 working days for the Bereavement Centre to be in a position to make any necessary arrangements with the family, following the death. This may take longer if the doctor has to speak to the Coroner before completing the paperwork. We generally recommend families contact the Bereavement Centre on the working day after the death to make an appointment to discuss next steps. 

The Bereavement Centre staff will ask you as a family if you know if the funeral will be a burial or a cremation. They will ask you this question because the type of funeral determines the type of paperwork that will be needed to enable the death to be registered.