Risk of dead body backlog at Nottingham hospital mortuary amid 'critical' need to fix lift

The Queen's Medical Centre
-Credit: (Image: Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post)


A lift used for transporting dead bodies at a Nottingham hospital is at risk of being unusable, which could lead to a backlog of patients. The lift is the only "dignified" way of moving deceased patients at the Queen's Medical Centre's mortuary, which houses two thirds of Nottingham University Hospital (NUH) patients.

Staff within the service have urged hospital bosses to replace or refurbish the lift, warning its failure would "severely impact" their ability to release and receive bodies, according to hospital board papers. Hospital morgues store and care for deceased patients until they are collected by family, funeral directors or others.

They also provide services such as post-mortems for the coroner. NUH said repair work had been out to tender and "will progress shortly".

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The trust had a repairs backlog of nearly £440 million, according to data from February. This includes a bill of £239m for the QMC, prompting one union to describe some buildings as "no longer fit for purpose".

A report prepared by mortuary manager Scott Raven for the NUH board meeting on Thursday, September 12, says concerns were raised with the West Block Undercroft Lift during an inspection by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and Human Tissue Authority (HTA).

It says the lift is at risk of becoming "non-operational" due to its age and a lack of replacement parts. "The need for the lift to be refurbished, replaced, or supplemented with an additional lift has been identified as critical," the report says.

"The existing condition of the lift presents a significant compliance risk and threatens our ability to maintain service standards." It adds a failure of the lift would "severely impact" the ability to maintain operations, including releasing and receiving bodies and fulfilling contracts for the coroner.

The report says staff have been trained to use an alternative lift on the other side of the block in the event of a breakdown. However this "compromises the dignity of the deceased during transport, further highlighting the need for an immediate resolution".

The report recommends that the existing lift undergoes a full renovation. "The lift's age, frequent breakdowns, and the difficulty in sourcing replacement parts necessitate this action," it reads.

Concerns have also been raised about the trust's "lack [of] sufficient deep freeze storage", which allows bodies to be kept past the 30-day storage limit. The report says it risks not meeting new HTA regulations, which could result in a rise in reportable incidents and lead to "national media scrutiny".

It recommends NUH increases the bariatric freezer capacity to at least 40 patients. Lianne Finnerty, designated individual for the HTA post-mortem licence of NUH, said: “Following the HTA's latest inspection in October 2023, we have improved our processes for monitoring the condition of our deceased patients to meet the recommendation.

"Patients are checked every 10-15 days from admittance and assessed as to whether they require transfer to deep-freeze storage. After 30 days, they continue to be checked every 10 to 15 days and are transferred if required.

“The repair work for the lift has been out to tender and will progress shortly, in line with the HTA’s recommendation.”