What Happens When Someone Dies In Hospital

When someone dies in hospital, the nursing team will ask the medical examining officer to review and provide the Medical Cause of Death Certificate. The medical examining officer will take responsibility for deciding if there needs to be a post-mortem examination before the Medical Cause of Death Certificate can be completed.

The next of kin will be contacted to let them know what’s happened and to discuss if they’d like to visit their person before the staff take them into the care of the hospital or hospice mortuary. The executor of the will should make arrangements to collect any personal belongings from the hospital and the nursing team will guide them or the next of kin on what their local arrangements are for visiting and collecting valuable items and possessions.

Once the hospital has completed their duties and you’ve agreed when the personal possessions will be collected, you can get in touch with us and tell us that you’re ready for us to collect the person who’s died. We’ll call the hospital or hospice and once we have their permission we can bring them into our care.

You’ll have five days to complete a number of important tasks. Our guide on what to do when someone dies is helpful in letting you know what must be done and the order to do things in.