NAFD organises multi-agency meeting to address funeral delays in Scotland

With pathology problems and issues with registration services affecting bereaved families and causing delays to funeral services in Scotland, the NAFD organised a meeting with Health Improvement Scotland, the NHS, National Records of Scotland (NRS) and the Scottish Government to try and find solutions.

Issues reported include staff shortages and a backlog of marriages, postponed during the pandemic, causing delays for registrars. In addition there have been incidences where the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD), or Form 11, is sent to the registrar office of the bereaved families’ choice, rather than one with the lowest waiting times, which can result in some offices being overloaded with death registrations and examples of hospitals sending all MCCDs to one registrar’s office or sending MCCDs in bulk – not always writing an MCCD at the time of death.

The NRS wrote to registrars to underline that directives from registrars that a funeral director should not make arrangements for a burial or cremation until the form 14 was issued “may be causing unnecessary delays” and that the Burial and Cremation team has advised funeral directors that provisional burial or cremation bookings can be made prior to the form being issued. This, the letter said, would help provide clarity and minimise distress to the bereaved.

In turn, they warned funeral directors that an appointment for registration must be made and any booking for a funeral should take into account the possibility that the death registration may be delayed if the MCCD is selected for medical review, or if further investigations are necessary and the registration cannot be completed within the expected timescale.

The NAFD’s advice to funeral directors in Scotland is that they should discuss any request for an urgent death registration with the registrar, in exceptional circumstances only and not to routinely call registrars to expedite the process. For deaths selected for a review, an Advance Registration can be requested if it meets the criteria.

The meeting also concluded that communication to Health Boards highlighting the impact of delays in MCCDs being sent to registrars or to wrong offices would be helpful, along with highlighting that the death registration can be at any office; this will come from the Scottish Government.

However, it is important to note that once the MCCD is sent to the registrar of choice, if the family decide to register at another office, this involves the registration offices having to email/ send the MCCD to the new office, which could further delay progress.