Scottish care providers told to record cause of death as unknown where details are unavailable

Care services in Scotland should continue reporting the deaths of service users even when they cannot access the official cause of death, the Care Inspectorate has said.

The regulator issued interim guidance after a change in process left some providers without access to the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. It is discussing the impact of the change with the Scottish Government.

Under Scottish regulations, care providers must keep records of the date, time and cause of a service user’s death, along with the name of the doctor who certified it. They must also notify the Care Inspectorate without delay when somebody dies while receiving a regulated care service and provide information about the circumstances.

The inspectorate acknowledged that providers may currently be unable to fulfil every part of those duties because information normally obtained from the medical certificate is no longer available to them. It said services would not be held responsible when the missing information was outside their control.

Providers must continue submitting death notifications and include as much information as they know about the circumstances. Where details normally taken from the medical certificate are unavailable, they should enter “unknown” in the relevant field until further guidance is issued.

Stay informed with the stories shaping health and social care.