A Welsh mortuary where bodies were mixed up has received a “partial suspension” of its official recognition as a mortuary. The mix-up led to bereaved families receiving the wrong bodies for cremation at the mortuary at the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran in November 2023.
In March, WalesOnline reported that the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board had to apologise to a grieving family after it was revealed that the hospital had released the wrong body. The family was only informed several months after the death, and a funeral had already taken place. The health board expressed being “devastated” by the mix-up, which happened just days before another similar mistake resulted in the wrong body being cremated.
The UK national accreditation service (UKAS) found “evidence of active ongoing risks and significant areas of concern” at the hospital mortuary, which prompted a partial suspension of its official recognition of mortuary activities. The assessors at the Grange discovered a lack of standardisation in patient release procedures five months after the incidents. It was revealed that deceased patients arriving from the community had different identification tags than those from the hospital, leading to inconsistency in the mortuary register.
UKAS pointed out concerns about the lack of security measures such as CCTV coverage and a list of personnel with access to the facility. Overall, UKAS identified seven areas for improvement and decided to partially suspend the mortuary service’s accreditation, subject to review, due to “serious concerns on security and safe patient management”.
The health board has since implemented safeguards to prevent further incidents and is collaborating with mortuary staff to ensure ongoing improvements. The two incidents in November 2023 triggered an internal investigation and inspections by the Human Tissue Authority, which oversees the health board’s post-mortem procedures.
A spokesperson for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board stated that the two incidents had the same root cause and that they have taken steps to address the issues and comply with recommendations. The health board continues to work on improvements to ensure the safety and security of its mortuary services.