There is a lot of support available to people nearing the end of their life as well as their families, friends and carers. We also support social care staff dealing with these issues.
Local contacts
Talk to your social worker, GP, district/community nurse or any other health or social care worker. They will know about the best support available locally and how you can access it.
Nottinghamshire County PCT has useful local information on their website including a local guide for patients about end of life care and links to local hospices.
The Nottinghamshire Information Prescriptions website provides local and national information to support people approaching death. This includes information on benefits, home care, hospices, financial and legal issues and planning for the future.
Pathways Carer Support service provides practical and emotional for support for carers who are looking after someone nearing the end of their life. The service is free and you can access it 24/7. For more information telephone 0300 4564951 or download their information leaflet.
National information
NHS Choices provides a good overview of end of life care issues.
The National End of Life Care Programme provides a wide range of information for people approaching the end of their lives and anyone caring for them. They include a list of useful guides published by different organisations.
The Dying Matters Coalition. The Coalition’s Mission is “to support changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards death, dying and bereavement, and through this to make ‘living and dying well’ the norm".
Dying Matters has a useful guide on talking about dying.
Registering deaths
Our Registration service can sensitively take you through the legal process of registering a death.
We also offer a ‘Tell us once’ service where we can contact on your behalf a wide range of services that may need to know about someone’s death such as benefits agencies, DVLA and the Passport service.
Gov.uk is the new place to go to find out what to do when someone dies, how to apply for benefits and a whole host of other information.
Funerals
While most people arrange a funeral through a firm of funeral directors there are alternatives.
Civil funerals - this is a dignified and formal ceremony, predominantly (but not exclusively) non-religious, suitable for cremations and burials alike.
The Natural Death Centre provides information on natural burial grounds and arranging funerals without funeral directors.
