The Bereavement team at the hospital will be able to offer their guidance and support. If someone dies outside of normal working hours, you may have to wait until the next working day to contact them. They will arrange for you to collect the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and point you in the right direction of the appropriate Registrar.

Under normal circumstances, the death will need to be registered within 5 days, but you can contact us on 01706 829482 or  01706 260571 at any time so that we can discuss the funeral arrangements with you.

When someone dies at home a qualified person will need to confirm their death. This may be a person’s GP, or an out-of-hours doctor, or paramedic. Once the death is confirmed and you are ready, you can contact us on 01706 829482 or  01706 260571 to arrange for us to bring the person who has died into our care.

We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. You should make contact with the GP’s surgery to arrange to collect the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death which you will need to register the death. If you choose to spend time with your loved one at home before the funeral, this is something we will support and advise you on.

In the event of a sudden or unexpected death, or if there are questions over the cause of death, the death will be reported to the coroner, who may call for a post-mortem or an inquest. A coroner’s officer will be in touch with you to keep you updated.

We would recommend contacting us as soon as possible so that we can offer our support and guidance, liaise with the Coroners officer, and make some preliminary arrangements whilst investigations are being carried out.

If you click on one of these links, the website will guide you through the process of registering the death in:

• Rawtenstall
• Burnley
• Accrington
• Manchester