Monthly archives: March 2020

Covid-19 Death Certification advice from the National Medical Examiner

Prior to more detailed guidance being released for the death certification process in an emergency scenario, please follow these recommendations:

• Covid-19 is an acceptable direct or underlying cause of death for the purposes ​of completing the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death
• Covid-19 is not a reason on its own to refer a death to a coroner under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
• That Covid-19 is a notifiable disease under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 does not mean referral to a coroner is required by virtue of its notifiable status.
• Where next of kin/informant are following self-isolation procedures, please arrange for an alternative informant who has not been in contact with the patient to collect the Medical Certificate Cause of Death and deliver to the registrar for registration purposes.

Estates helpdesk provision

The Estates helpdesk and our maintenance teams continue to provide support during the current COVID-19 outbreak however, in order to assist our helpdesk team to deal with requests efficiently and limit unwanted access to clinical areas, we would ask our colleagues to only report emergencies (priority A) via the 4444 helpdesk telephone number and log non-critical jobs (priority B-E) via the Estates intranet page.

Please see helpdesk call priorities for details.

If you have any queries or require support please contact Philippa McLeod in the first instance philippamcleod@nhs.net.

Health and wellbeing activities cancelled until further notice

All health and wellbeing support workshops as well as gym inductions and smoking cessation clinics  have been cancelled until further notice.

For more information please contact the occupational health on ext. 3306, option 4.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.