Oxfordshire Medical Examiner Office

Monday to Friday 9.00am to 4.00pm (except Bank Holidays).

The Medical Examiner's purpose is to:

provide greater safeguards for the public by ensuring independent scrutiny of all non-coronial deaths
ensure the appropriate direction of deaths to the coroner
provide a better service for the bereaved and an opportunity for them to raise any concerns to a doctor not involved in the care of the deceased
improve the quality and accuracy of death certification
improve the quality of mortality data.

Oxfordshire's Medical Examiner Office is hosted by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and based at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The office is staffed by medical examiners and supported by medical examiner officers.

The role of the Medical Examiner Office is to examine deaths and to:

agree the proposed cause of death and the overall accuracy of the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) with the doctor completing it
discuss the cause of death with bereaved families and establish if they have questions or any concerns with care before death
act as a medical advice resource for the local coroner
identify cases for further review under local mortality arrangements and contribute to other clinical governance processes.

Medical Certificate of Cause of Death

The 'Medical Certificate of Cause of Death' is the certiﬁcate completed by the doctors who looked after the deceased.

This is the certiﬁcate that goes to Oxford Registration Services and the information from this is added to the 'Death Certiﬁcate' that the Registrar will give you at your appointment to register the death.

Death registration

Medical examiners are required in law to review every death in England and Wales that is not investigated by a coroner.

To conﬁrm this review has been completed, the Medical Examiner must countersign the new version of the medical certiﬁcate before it can go the Registrar.

The goal is to create a seamless transition for families going through bereavement.

Without the Medical Examiner's signature on the medical certificate the registration appointment will not be able to take place.

What you need to know

The reforms to death certification and the introduction of medical examiners started on 9 September 2024. As part of the changes, a new Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) replaces the previous certificate.

Medical practitioners must use the new MCCD.

When death occurs in OUH or Sobell House

Doctors will speak with the Medical Examiner and agree a cause of death.

Once a cause of death is agreed, the named next of kin (as documented in the medical records) will be contacted by the Bereavement Services / Medical Examiner Office, who will explain the certiﬁcate, answer any questions and, if all is well, give the next of kin the go-ahead to make an appointment to register. They can also help with explaining next steps.

Families have five days to register a death from the moment the registration service receives the MCCD from the Medical Examiner Office.

If the death needs to be referred to the Coroner's Office, this will be done through Bereavement Services and we will keep you fully informed.

Where religious / cultural needs mean burials have to take place as soon as possible, we will process the paperwork as quickly as we can, and the Registration Service will offer you the earliest possible appointment, so that your loved one's body can be released to you.

In order to make a registration appointment to facilitate early release we will need proof that the funeral is booked or in the event of repatriation that a flight has been booked and confirmed.

When death occurs in the community

GP surgeries will make a referral to the Oxfordshire Medical Examiner Office and the death will then be reviewed and a cause of death will be agreed.

The Medical Examiner Office will contact the next of kin (as documented in the medical records), explain the certiﬁcate, answer any questions and, if all is well, give them the go-ahead to make an appointment to register. They can also help with explaining next steps.

Families have five days to register a death from the moment registration services receives the MCCD from the Medical Examiner Office.

If the death needs to be referred to the Coroner's Office, this will be undertaken by the GP practice and the Medical Examiner Office will not be involved.

The named next of kin will need to complete an Authorisation for the Release of a Deceased Patient Form, and register the death before their body can be released.

The release form and the green form (provided at registration of death) will need to be brought to the hospital by your Funeral Director, if you have appointed one, in order for the body to be released into their care.

Deaths can be registered at the Register Offices in:

Oxford
Banbury
Abingdon
Bicester
Didcot
Henley
Witney.

After the death has been registered, the Registrar will email the Green Form for burial or cremation directly to your Funeral Director, if you have appointed one.

For more information please visit: