Information

What to Do After a Death

If a person dies at home or in a nursing home

After a person has died, you will need to contact their Doctor or the out of hours duty Doctor.
If the death was in a nursing home the staff at the home will arrange for this to be done.
Once the Doctor has confirmed that death has taken place and given permission for the deceased to be moved, you may ring your chosen Funeral Director.
We will ask you for the deceased's full name, place of death and for the next of kin's or Executor's contact details.
Once this information has been given we will arrange for our staff to move the deceased to our Chapel of Rest.
We offer a 24 hour service, 365 days of the year so can be called at any time day or night.
If you have called the duty doctor out, you will need to speak to the deceased's own Doctor the next working day to find out when the medical cause of death certificate will be available for you to collect.

If a person dies in hospital

HM Coroner

If the death was sudden, unexpected or the Doctor is unable to issue a medical cause of death certificate then it will be reported to the Coroner.
The Coroner's Officer will contact the family and keep them informed of what is happening.
They will decide whether there will need to be a post mortem examination.
They will also advise you as to when you will be able to register the death and will send the paperwork direct to the Registrar's Office for you to collect the Copy of the Entry.
If the Coroner decides that an inquest is necessary, they will usually be able to issue the forms required for the funeral to go ahead by opening the inquest for the purpose of the identification of the deceased and then adjourn it until further investigations have taken place.

Call 0191 237 0482

We are proud members of SAIF

Security for You - Gives families the security that we are meeting a nationally recognised standard within the business

SAIF Membership

Code of Practice

Our Business Abides by the SAIF Code of Practice. This is an important document to us. It sets out exactly what our responsibilities are, giving families the security and reassurance that the funeral arrangements will be performed in a professional manner.

Regular Inspections

SAIF rigorously maintain their standards through a series of inspections and visits to our premises
which ensure that high standards are in place at all times.

Kerry Scott

Gone through some of the worst days these past couple of weeks with a very dear friend after she lost the 2nd of her 3 sons and funeral directors don’t often get any thanks or credit but what Melrose Funeral Services Limited have done to make sure everything went to plan from start to finish is just unbelievable! They have been on other end of phone morning, noon & night (literally) and to even taking doors off so that she could have him home one last night.

From the bottom of my heart and hers and family THANK YOU! Peter, Susan and the rest of your work family xxx