New death certification is welcome but risks extra work for GPs, says BMA

The BMA has given a cautious welcome to changes to the process for certifying deaths in the community in England, designed “to prevent criminal activity and poor practice” and which is due to be introduced next April.The health minister Maria Caulfield announced the publication of draft regulations for the new “safer system of death certification” on 14 December. She said the reform, which requires GPs to share records of patients who die from natural causes with their local medical examiner, would “protect and support bereaved families in the way they deserve.”She added, “Although abuse of the system is rare, what we are announcing today will be a significant step in preventing failures in the future.”The need for an overhaul of death certification was first identified nearly 20 years ago by the Shipman inquiry, published in 2005. It established that GP Harold Shipman had escaped detection for the murder of at…
Read Original Article: New death certification is welcome but risks extra work for GPs, says BMA »