Bereavement

The NHS article on bereavement is useful and gives general advice.

Several organisations and charities that provide specialist advice and support to those that have been bereaved:

• Child Bereavement UK
• Sands (stillbirth and neonatal death charity)
• The Compassionate Friends

There are three things that must be done in the first few days;

1. Obtain a medical certificate from your GP /hospital doctor (this is necessary to register the death)
2. Register the death within 5 days and at this point you will then receive the necessary documents for the funeral.
3. Arrange the necessary funeral arrangements.

If the death has been reported to the coroner they must give permission before registering the death.

You can register the death if you are a relative, a witness to the death, a hospital administrator or the person making the arrangements with the funeral directors.

The ‘Register a Death’ page on the gov.uk website will guide you through the process.

There are many local funeral directors we suggest choosing a funeral director who’s a member of one of the following:

• National Association of Funeral Directors
• Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors

If a funeral director is a member of one of the above organisations they have codes of practice and must give you a price list when asked.

Funeral costs can include:

• funeral director fees
• disbursements’ or ‘third-party costs’ are things the funeral director pays for on your behalf, for example, crematorium or cemetery fees, or a newspaper announcement about the death
• local authority burial or cremation fees

For more help and advice about understanding and coping with grief please use the links below:

www.helpguide.org/articles/grief-loss/coping-with-grief-and-loss.htm

www.mydecsions.org.uk