"DEVON Doctors have announced that out-of-hours GPs will no longer be called to verify deaths in Plymouth care homes – to help ensure help can always be given to the living."
"As of October 1, 2015 the urgent out-of-hours GP service provider has said it will be the responsibility of the home to arrange for the death to be verified and for the undertakers and family to be informed."
"When approached by The Herald, a spokesman confirmed the decision has been made but added Devon Doctors has been going "over and beyond its statutory obligations" up until this point."
"He said: "The reality is that this is already what happens in many areas of the country."
"There are a number of organisations which provide training for care home staff in the verification of death and it is entirely legitimate for anyone who has successfully completed this training to verify death."
"Verification of death, he explained, is different from certifying death, which explores the reasons why a patient has died and which, the law dictates, must be done by a medical practitioner and does not require the attendance of a doctor."
"He added: "We envisage that care homes will continue to contact us when a death occurs during the out-of-hours period and we will continue to support them, putting them in touch with one of our clinicians to explore whether it was an expected death and, when this is the case, giving them the confidence to go ahead and verify it."
"The change in practice only applies to care homes and Devon Doctors will continue to attend any expected deaths in private residences during the out-of-hours period."
Read more: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Doctors-longer-verify-deaths-Plymouth-care-homes/story-27609279-detail/story.html#ixzz3ist9fZft
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