Lincolnshire families are being left in distress after a loved one dies because post-mortems are being carried out miles away, and now a councillor is calling for the service to return in the county.
Currently the service is carried out at Leicester Royal Infirmary or Hull Royal Infirmary because United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust does not have the facilities.
Scrutiny councillors on Tuesday agreed to support proposals for re-procurement of the Coroner’s Body Removal and Transport later this month.
However Councillor Andrew Key, who works as a funeral celebrant, said people were often upset that their deceased relative had to be taken out of county for a post-mortem.
“Also, they often don’t know where they are, and how long they’re going to be,” he added.
“The funeral can be delayed and we also have a requirement to register deaths in five days which can’t be done.
“It just causes so much problems for families at a time, I think that they don’t need these problems.”
He said he was not convinced that the move by health services, originally made in a bid to save money, adding it would be “difficult” to get it back again.
But he urged members to “look at this really seriously”.
“This is the most distressing and upsetting time in their lives when something like this happens and the person that has passed away has to refer to the coroner, and go out of county for a post mortem.
“It is so traumatic for some of these families. It’s so distressing, I can’t begin to tell you.”
He was backed by Councillor Jackie Brockway who said he was “spot on” and asked for it to be a priority in the referral of the contract re-procurement.
James Chapple, Head of Registration, Celebratory and Coroners Services, told councillors: “Unfortunately, ULHT currently doesn’t have the capability to meet the demand for post mortems so we have to use those hospitals, which are further afield.
“It would be great if we could do them in within the boundary of Lincolnshire, but at the moment there is not that capability within Lincolnshire to do that.”
He said council officers continued to engage with the hospitals trust about future post-mortem provision.
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