Local Authority

Kent County Council and East Sussex County Council should examine their contractual arrangements with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to ensure that they are effective in protecting the safety …

There should be a process to routinely review who is permitted to access the mortuary unsupervised.

Where unsupervised access is permitted for a legitimate and unavoidable purpose, there should be individualised electronic access controls to enter the mortuary and restrict access to specific areas of the …

Where people other than mortuary staff are visiting the mortuary during working hours, for example contractors, cleaners and other visitors: Access must be limited to specific areas required for the …

Where mortuary staff are permitted to work alone in the mortuary, there should be a review of lone working policies, including consideration of activities involving direct handling of the deceased, …

Routine and regular audits of security must be conducted, encompassing both access to and exit from the mortuary and movement within it, including the post-mortem room. Access data must be …

Immediate steps must be taken to commission a specialist strategic review of the systems in place to protect the deceased, which should include a detailed risk assessment of the potential …

There must be no reliance on keys and keypad codes alone to secure access to the mortuary.

CCTV must be installed inside the mortuary facing all doors and access points, the reception area and the doors of all fridges containing deceased people, including where these are accessible …

Arrangements for responding to incidents of unauthorised access must be reviewed and incorporated into Standard Operating Procedures.

All policies and procedures in relation to the security of the mortuary must be accurately and comprehensively reflected in a single security Standard Operating Procedure.

There must be a process to ensure that, where there is a requirement for funding to strengthen mortuary security, it is expedited and considered at the highest levels within the …

There must be an investigation into the root cause of each security breach. Each incident, the investigation and action plan must be reported to director level within the local authority …

There must be audits of the mortuary Standard Operating Procedures and compliance with Human Tissue Authority requirements, undertaken annually as a minimum, with a clear record of authorisation by the …

There must be a review of the management and oversight arrangements for the mortuary service, taking into consideration who is appointed as the Designated Individual, their direct contact with the …

The mortuary service must be treated in the same way as other regulatory services within local authority reporting structures: The mortuary must be visible to scrutiny at the relevant statutory …

The mortuary service must be reviewed by professional auditors at least biennially, with the results of the audit reported to a formal committee regardless of the level of assurance. Local …

All relevant reports and incidents concerning the mortuary must be made known to the lead local authority manager for the coroner service (and the Senior Coroner if they wish to …

The implementation of these recommendations must be reported to the relevant statutory committee.

Local authorities providing a coroner service must review plans for the provision and operation of contingent body storage, in collaboration with local organisations providing mortuary services.

Local authorities providing an unlicensed body store must be prepared to comply with the Human Tissue Authority's standards and guidance where applicable, in the event that a Human Tissue Authority …

Where local authorities provide an unlicensed body store, they should do so in line with this Report's recommendations to local authority providers of licensed mortuaries.

Local authorities must review all contractual arrangements and agreements with third-party providers of services that care for and transport the deceased. This must include consideration of assurance mechanisms, such as …

There must be a contractual requirement to formally notify the contract manager and senior local authority officers of any incidents involving the deceased, as well as the outcome of inspections …

Local authorities must ensure that the providers they contract or enter into agreements with have robust governance processes in place to oversee the services they provide. This should include Standard …