Trust Centre : Our Terms of Business, Policies and Procedures

Our Operational Guidelines

‍Purpose

This policy is about us providing a proper standard of care for deceased people who are entrusted into our care, to ensuring we only act when authorised to do so, and we are competent to carry out our business.

‍Scope

To ensure we provide a high quality service at all times, and a high standard of client care.

‍Policy Principles

We will:- 

1.We will ensure before taking a deceased person into our care that we have taken all reasonable steps to establish the identity of our contractual client, that they have authority to instruct us, that they have consent for us to act, and the identity of the deceased person.

We will ascertain the deceased’s full name and address, date of birth, date of death, whether the death has been confirmed by a medical professional, location of the deceased person, contact details for the contractual client.

We will obtain signed authorisation or in cases where the contractual client is not present, receive written acknowledge of the transfer of the deceased person and us being asked to do so.

We will check the identification of the deceased person when we collect them, and we will place our own id bracelet on their wrist and ankle, which will remain in place.

We will ensure that when we are conveying the deceased person from their place of death, we do so with dignity and respect and they are covered at all times in line with law.

Typically we use our private hearse vehicle to collect the person who has died. We will go straight to our funeral home (at 3 Blenheim Road, Minehead), and place the min our mortuary facilities in a suitable bay/position for their size, where they will stay until their funeral.

If we are asked to convey the deceased person to another location for example for medical examination, then we will inform our contractual client, and record the information.

2.Preserve the dignity of the deceased people in our care at all times by ensuring they are appropriately clothed or covered when not actively cared for;

Where possible, we will use a modesty cloth or suitable covering to cover the genitalia and other sensitive body areas of deceased people when they are being actively cared for (such as embalming process)

We will use a suitable headblock or pillow to support the heads of all deceased people that are in our mortuary facility

We will use cleaned and disinfected tray for every deceased person we store in our mortuary facility

We provide appropriate space for every deceased person in our mortuary facility, and we do not have more than we can accommodate at any one time.

If you have opted for a cremation and your loved one has an electronic device inside their body, such as a pacemaker, Amanda-Louise can remove this as its a requirement of the crematoria. We will ask for written consent from the contractual client for this procedure.

Whilst we do not automatically embalm, if you have chosen for your loved one to have this, you will sign consent, we will ask a specialist to carry out this procedure.

Should our contracted client wish to spend time with their deceased person whilst in our care, we will help them to do so, including if they wish to support with any washing, dressing or adding any items to be placed in their coffin or casket.  We will also inspect the deceased person prior to the “viewing” and will advise if we consider in our professional opinion it is a wise or unwise decision to do so. If we have deemed not so, and the family still wish to “view, then the client/family will sign a declaration to this effect.

As an alternative to “viewing” the deceased, we can accommodate client and family members to spend time with the deceased person in their coffin at an arrangement time (typically working hours)

We will gently wash the deceased person in readiness for their funeral, and if requested to do so, will change their clothing as agreed.

We will record if we have not taken any steps regarding preparation of the deceased, and the reasons why.

We will ensure that the coffin and any items within the coffin meet the criteria of the crematoria, cemetery or natural burial ground for example.

We welcome everyone, and aim to accommodate all religious beliefs.

3. We will keep accurate and comprehensive written and/or electronic records of every deceased person brought into our care, and will keep such information for a minimum period of five years. Such records will show all actions, activities and location at all times.

We will carry out an assessment of every deceased person in our care at least once every 24 hours (Monday to Friday). (this does not apply to cremated ashes).

As well as our manual paperwork system and IT software management system, we also have registers which log specific information separately. For example, we update our mortuary register on a timely basis, take temp checks regularly to ensure the refrigeration settings are in working order (and have timely maintenance and service checks), record when we take delivery and responsibility of any valuables (including jewellery) and any florist floral tributes in readiness of the funeral, as well as cremated ashes register.

Our records will be evidence to allow any regulator, without assistance from us, who the deceased person is, where they are/have been, support given to, and information relating to any jewellery or valuables.

We will ensure all information is accurate when supporting our contractual client to apply for a cremation or burial, and that the coffin name plate information is correct to satisfy the needs of the crematoria or cemetery personnel.

If we have been instructed to collect the cremated ashes (where appropriate) then we will ensure we collect the correct ashes, and sign for them, taking them back to our funeral home to be stored in a locked cupboard in a locked room. When the contractual client wishes to have the ashes in their procession, we will ask them to sign for them.

We will never withhold cremated ashes in lieu of payment of our services.

4. We will ensure that we are appropriately trained and knowledgeable in the work that we do.

Our mortuary facilities are only accessed by authorised people.

We have suitable mortuary facilities (at 3 Blenheim Road Minehead) and have access to the same (use of other mortuary facilities in Taunton or Dulverton by way of Service Level Agreement should our mortuary be full to capacity). We carry out regular inspections of our mortuary facilities and equipment.

Our interior and exterior of our funeral home and our vehicles (our hearsette – private Mondeo adapted hearse and our vintage traditional hearse) are in a good and well maintained condition.

We will appropriate policies and procedures in running our business in terms of governing structure, with all legislative and regulations including Health and Safety and Data Protection Law.

We have appropriate insurance cover.

We work in a transparent, honest way providing choice and information so that our contractual clients can make the right decision for their wants and needs.

We have appropriate policies and procedures relating to other areas such as terms of business, privacy, accessibility, equality and diversity, code of ethics and complaints handling, health &safety, coshh and any risks, for example.

Amanda-Louise is not only the owner of this business, but is the senior member of the team responsible for the day to daywork in our funeral duties. The team follow instructions from Amanda-Louise, or if working alone are competent in doing so; identified by Amanda-Louise.

Any breaches to this policy then this needs to be reported to Amanda-Louise Knight to be investigated. This policy will be monitored and reviewed annually.

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‍Policy Updated - August 2024

Next Policy Review - August 2025

‍Policy Owner - Amanda-Louise Knight

Policy Reviewer - Amanda-Louise Knight‍