In administering Last Offices, nurses need to know the legal requirements for care of patients after death, and it is essential that correct procedures are followed. Every effort should be made to accommodate the wishes of the patient's relatives (National Nurse Consultant Group, Palliative Care [34]). The UK is an increasingly multicultural and multifaith society, which presents a challenge to nurses who need to be aware of the different religious and cultural rituals that may accompany the death of a patient. There are notable cultural variations within and between people of different faiths, ethnic backgrounds and national origins. This can affect approaches to death and dying (Neuberger [38]) and needs to be remembered when administering Last Offices in order to avoid presumptions. Although those who have settled in a society where there is a dominant faith or culture other than their own might appear to increasingly adopt that dominant culture, they may choose to retain their different practices at times of birth, marriage or death (Neuberger [37]).

Practices relating to Last Offices will vary depending on the patient's cultural background and religious practices (National Nurse Consultant Group, Palliative Care [34]). The following sections provide a guide to cultural and religious variations in attitudes to death and how individuals may wish to be treated. The information that follows is not designed to be a ‘fact file’ (Gilliat‐Ray [15], Gunaratnam [19], Smaje and Field [53]) of information on culture and religion that seeks to give concrete information. Such a ‘fact file’ would not be appropriate as we need to be aware that although death and death‐related beliefs, rituals and traditions can vary widely between specific cultural groups, within any given religious or cultural group there may be varying degrees of observance of these issues (Green and Green [18]), from orthodox to agnostic and atheist. Categorizing individuals into groups with clearly defined norms can lead to a lack of understanding of the complexities of religious and cultural practice and can depersonalize care for individuals and their families (Neuberger [37], Smaje and Field [53]).

Last Offices for an expected death may be very different to those given to a patient who has died suddenly or unexpectedly (Docherty [10]) or in a critical care setting, so these issues will be dealt with later in this chapter. In certain cases the patient's death may need to be referred to the coroner or medical examiner for further investigation and possible post mortem. If those caring for the deceased are unsure about this then the person in charge of the patient's care should be consulted before Last Offices are commenced.

Prior to the patient's death, whenever possible, it is good practice to ascertain if the patient wishes to donate organs or tissue following their death. For further information on this, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.