Apparently there is new guidance from the Home Office to medical referees
for crematoria.

"Medical referees will wish to note in particular that they are recommended
not to accept without further enquiry applications where doctors completing
Form C have not made enquiries of a relevant third party i.e. That one of
the questions 5 - 8 should be answered in the affirmative".

(I can't provide a url, this is from a fax received yesterday - quoting that
this is a firm recommendation arising from the 3rd report of Shipman
enquiry)

I don't have a form to hand, but I think qu 5-8 Form C are the ones "Have
you questioned relatives/carers/any other party" in the second part of the
cremation medical certificate.

Well I suppose for a death in a nursing home it might* be fairly
straightforward to phone the nursing home and ask to speak to a nurse who
was involved in the last illness.

For a death at home it is much more difficult. Given that (if you are
completing Form C) this is not one of your patients, then it will be
difficult to conduct such questioning by phone. It seems to require either
visiting the relatives* at home, or inviting the relatives to your surgery.

* [but hold on, since the point of this is presumably to provide some
information independent of the doctor completing Form B, and this is not our
patient, from whom are we to obtain the details of the nursing
home/relatives to contact - why, from the doctor (Form B) whom we are trying
to check up on, who conceivably could be conspiring with some nursing home
staff or even setting up a fake 'family' for you to contact! ]

So do we answer negative to Q 5-8 as usual, and let the medical referee make
the further enquiries, or are we (Form C doctors) going to be encouraged /
required / pressurised to make the further enquiries before signing form C.
If the former then this is a sudden surge in work for medical referees, and
if the latter then it leads to a significant increase in the work involved
in completing Form C, and hence perhaps a dearth of doctors willing to
accept requests to complete Form C.

Anyone know any more about this?

--
Simon Child
www.GPUK.net
www.woodbanksurgery.nhs.uk