Death certification reform and the introduction of medical examiners
Information about changes to the death certification process in England and Wales from 9 September 2024.
Regulations
Regulations introducing changes to the death certification process were laid before Parliament on 15 April 2024 and will come into force on 9 September 2024:
- The Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Regulations 2024
- The Medical Examiners (England) Regulations 2024
- The National Medical Examiner (Additional Functions) Regulations 2024
- The Medical Examiners (Wales) Regulations 2024
These regulations are part of the wider reform of the death certification process. The reforms change the way in which the causes of deaths are scrutinised and certified in England and Wales with the introduction of a statutory medical examiner system.
The regulations introduce new medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) to be used by attending practitioners and medical examiners from 9 September 2024.
Overview of the death certification reforms
Impact assessments and consultation outcome
In April 2024 we published an updated summary of the potential impact of the introduction of medical examiners and death certification reform. This should be read alongside the previous impact assessments.
We published a full impact assessment in June 2018 as part of the death certification reforms consultation outcome. This was updated in 2022 as part of the Health and Care Act: combined impact assessments - see the ‘Summary document and analysis of additional measures’ on that page.
Last updated 15 April 2024 + show all updates
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Removed draft regulations and added links to the final regulations. Added links to 2 impact assessments: 'Medical examiners and death certification reform: summary of impact' and 'Health and Care Act 2022: combined impact assessments'.
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First published.