Bodies in ‘extreme deterioration’ have been found in a Nottingham trust under fire

In the year After the death of Harriet Hawkins, who was born at NUH in 2016, problems emerged after her parents discovered her body had been left to rot.

A subsequent investigation found 17 concerns and led to an Independent Maternal Review investigation into the post-mortem care of 16 other babies and one mother.

An early-pregnancy baby was discarded as medical waste, the wrong baby was handed over to undertakers and a dead mother was so badly injured that her family was advised not to see her before her funeral.

Ockendon said in her report: “The review found repeated examples of a lack of respect for the deceased…

The problems prompted the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), which regulates mortuary practices in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to investigate the mortuary services.

as if An unexpected diagnosis, External In the two hospitals run by the trust, QMC and City Hospital, it found three critical, six major and one minor deficiencies compared to the standard.

The HTA found a lack of refrigeration space at both Nottingham hospitals meant some bodies were kept in freezers instead.

Eight of the dead were showing “advanced deterioration” because they were not moved to the refrigerator in time.

Instead of being carried out in a post-mortem room, some post-mortem examinations of children were carried out in poorly ventilated laboratories, with untrained support staff in morgues, the HTA said.

More than half of the 145 incidents recorded in an accompanying audit were said to have failed to reach the regulator.