Recommendation P1-17: Deceased treated with same dignity as patients
From Fuller Inquiry Phase 1 Report, published 28 November 2023.
Recommendation
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust must treat the deceased with the same due regard to dignity and safeguarding as it does its other patients.
In brief (written by this site)
In October 2024, Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, reported that Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust had strengthened mortuary access controls and board oversight, with NHS England monitoring ongoing compliance (Wes Streeting response, Oct 2024). The Trust had stated in February 2024 that it complied in full with the recommendation, having adopted a safeguarding definition for the deceased and introduced dignity measures including mortuary preparation packs (Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust response, Feb 2024). The record holds no update since the Department of Health and Social Care's response of October 2024 (Wes Streeting response, Oct 2024).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The record reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.
Government response
Today I am updating the House on the response to those recommendations. The Trust published an assurance statement in February 2024 on the implementation of the recommendations from the Phase 1 report. This sets out the progress made to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations.
The range of actions taken by the Trust include requiring that non-mortuary staff and contractors are always accompanied by another staff member when visiting the mortuaries; controlling access to mortuaries using swipe cards; mandating contractors to renew security clearances every three years; and installing CCTV coverage monitoring access to and from mortuary areas. The Trust Board is also providing greater oversight and assurance of legally regulated activity in the mortuary.
I am also reassured that NHS England’s South East regional team held monthly oversight meetings with the Trust between November 2023 and April 2024 (in partnership with Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board) to ensure progress against the Inquiry’s recommendations and to review evidence of the Trust’s progress in delivering their action plan. Ongoing compliance with the Inquiry's recommendations will be monitored by NHS England through regular regional oversight meetings with the Trust, and through other channels as appropriate.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: Written statement HCWS132, made on 15 October 2024 by Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. It reports what the Trust and the two county councils had done, and neither accepts nor rejects any recommendation, so the rows are marked noted. The Phase 1 recommendations are addressed to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (16) and to Kent County Council and East Sussex County Council (recommendation 12).
Site note: The statement gives these paragraphs once, for the 16 recommendations addressed to the Trust, and the same words are recorded on each of them.
The Trust now complies with this recommendation in full on the following basis:
• A definition of “Safeguarding” has been developed by the Trust’s Chief Nurse that can apply to this context, given that the Safeguarding legislation excludes the deceased. The following definition is as follows: “‘Safeguarding ensures all staff are acting with compassion to protect deceased patients in our care, from harm and preservation of their dignity. This will be delivered in line with all relevant Trust policies”.
• The work of the “Security and dignity of the deceased” workstream described under Recommendation 16 promotes the treatment of the deceased with the same due regard to dignity and safeguarding as it does its other patients. Examples of this practice in operation include: mortuary preparation packs; and developing enhanced links between the wards and the mortuary.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust's "Assurance statement on the implementation of the recommendations from the Phase 1 report", agenda item 02-5 of its Trust Board meeting of 29 February 2024 (pages 15 to 26 of the meeting book, read from the Internet Archive). The statement is dated 23 February 2024 at its foot, and the rows carry that date. The words are the Trust's.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has been found in the sources searched (last checked 5 February 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response - Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Response