Wigan hospital trust included in data on mortuary mistakes

There was one mortuary mistake at WWL between 2014 and 2019

The statistics on errors have been collected and analysed by the JPIMedia Data Unit.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust has also bucked something of an unwelcome regional trend as the North West had the most reported incidents between 2014 and 2019, with 105.

However, an expert from a bereavement charity said that any mortuary mistake could be “very traumatising” for grieving families.

More than 600 incidents were reported at licensed mortuaries in the six-year period, the data collected under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act showed.

Errors included organs being lost after post-mortem examinations to the wrong bodies being released to relatives.

WWL said it was unable to comment on the issue due to patient confidentiality.

The statistics included 200 instances of bodies being accidentally damaged, 68 of relatives being given a body that was not their loved one and 33 examples of someone mourning a loss being shown the wrong body.

Andy Langford, the clinical director at Cruse Bereavement Care, said the post-mortem process could be hard on families at the best of times.

He said post-mortems, even when done for important reasons, can make relatives feel like their “grief is elongated” and mistakes could compound people’s distress.

He said: “If you were standing in a room expecting to view the body of a loved one and you are presented with a person who is recognisably diferent, you can imagine how that would feel. It is beyond shocking, really.”

While “realistically, people do make mistakes”, mortuaries had to ensure every possible safeguard was in place to prevent them, Mr Langford said.

The Human Tissue Authority said the reportable incidents represented a very small proportion of the 315,000 deceased people who enter the care of mortuaries each year.

A spokesperson for the regulator said: “When this happens, we work with the establishment to ensure that a thorough investigation is undertaken, lessons are learned, and that improvements are made to mitigate the risks of similar incidents happening again.”

The Cruse Bereavement Care Helpline offers emotional support to anyone affected by bereavement. The freephone number is 0808 808 1677,