Worthing Hospital mortuary inspection reveals 'shortfalls'

A report published by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) highlighted several concerns over body identification procedures, security and privacy.

The report found that ‘a minimum of three identifiers’ of the deceased ‘are not routinely checked against details’ provided by family members.

It stated: “As the preparation of the deceased and facilitation of the viewing are undertaken by different teams, there is no final verification that the deceased presented for viewing matches the details provided by the family. This poses a risk of bereaved families viewing the wrong body.”

A ‘recent near-miss incident’, which had not been reported to the HTA, was also disclosed during the inspection.

The findings were identified during an inspection of Worthing Hospital, and ‘satellite’ sites also run by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex) – St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, the Royal Sussex County in Brighton, and Princess Royal in Haywards Heath – on July 7 and 8.

The inspection identified ‘ten major and six minor shortfalls’ across the sites. However, the report said they had met ‘the majority of the HTA’s standards’.

A UHSussex spokesperson said: "The dignity, security, privacy and respectful care of people after death are of fundamental importance to us, and we take the findings of the HTA extremely seriously, including the areas identified by the inspection where our standards needed to improve.

“The vast majority of the areas identified in July have already been addressed, including all aspects of processes and procedures where inspectors identified any potential risk of error.

“We have also made immediate improvements to strengthen security and privacy, alongside a number of other changes to the physical environment, and more widely the Trust has already begun a far-reaching programme of improving all mortuary facilities across our hospital sites.”

Inspectors also found that CCTV monitoring the mortuary office fire exit ‘was not operational’, while the door was ‘frequently opened for ventilation’ and provided ‘unrestricted access to the body store’.

The report added: “In addition, when the doors are propped open, there is a direct line of sight from a publicly accessible footpath into the body store.

“Although the footpath is located at the rear of the hospital and is not frequently used, during the inspection the inspection team was able to observe a body being prepared for release from this publicly accessible area.”

Additionally, the inspection identified several issues with the condition of the Worthing mortuary. The HTA said ‘significant areas of damage, wear and poor condition were identified’. The floor in the body store was ‘heavily stained and appeared to be reaching the end of its serviceable life’, and there was a ‘heavy build-up of dirt within the body store drains’.

The report said: “This poses a risk to ineffective cleaning and decontamination.”

Inspectors also reviewed incident logs from the previous 24 months and found 21 incidents that met the HTA reporting threshold had not been reported.

“Of these, 16 were potential near misses with no harm noted on the incident summary,” the report added.

“Although all incidents had been recorded and investigated locally, the HTA had not been notified in line with reporting requirements.”

The UHSussex spokesperson added: “The HTA has not suspended or revoked the Trust’s licence, and we continue to work closely with the regulator to ensure the highest standards of care, dignity and respect for deceased patients and their families.”

The full report can be viewed on the HTA website.