Special Notes

Special notes are not a national process as different area have different systems. Across Rochdale Borough, the local out of hours service provider BARDOC has an electronic system where GPs can record health information related to terminal patients.

GP surgeries are usually open Monday to Friday 8am to 6.30pm following which the out of hours service would support any medical support in the community through calling 111.

The doctors at BARDOC do not have access to the GP medical records and so do not understand the patient’s current condition, treatment, and future plans and whether the GP will be able to certify the death on the next working day.

Special Notes allow GPs across the borough to record information relating to their patients on BARDOC computer system ensuring that any clinic or home visits are supported by information provided by your GP to ensure both your and the GP wishes are acknowledged.

In terminal illnesses, the special notes can guide a GP at the weekend to obtain clarity on whether your GP will be able to issue a certificate on the next working day to forward to the registrar office to issue the death certificate which would allow a burial or cremation to proceed.
Although not legally binding, without the special notes if a person dies and there is no assurances of whether the GP will issue a certificate (MCCD) then the out of hours service would have to manage the death as an ‘unexpected death’ resulting in the Police being called who would have the deceased transferred to the local public mortuary at Royal Oldham Hospital where the deceased would remain until the next working day when the Coroners office is open to process the death.
This can be very traumatic to family and carers and can be avoided by ensuring that the GP regularly updates the special notes on the out of hours computer system (ADASTRA).