City mortuary handed to NHS in £1.5m savings plan

A council will move its mortuary services to an NHS trust in a bid to save millions of pounds from its budget.

Wolverhampton's mortuary in Wednesfield is the last in the Black Country to be controlled by a local authority, but a new agreement sees it now being run by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

The deal means the City of Wolverhampton will no longer need to spend £1.5m on revamping the facilities with a new roof, fridges and freezers, and other equipment to help provide mortuary and pathology services.

Councillors approved the move during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall have already been making use of local NHS facilities and Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal said transferring the service would ensure the council met its legal duties, while avoiding the need to spend £1.5m.

Councillor Steve Evans, deputy leader, told cabinet members: "It's important that people have dignity in death as well as in life, and it just wouldn't be right to continue with a facility that is not up to standard.

"Without having modern facilities in place and digital technology [and] without access to high-quality services, some of those things would either not take place or would not be in a dignified manner."

The contract to outsource the service to the NHS trust would cost £119,000. The council said the move would also allow the mortuary site in Wednesfield to be sold, and around £70,000 a year would be saved in operational costs.

Mortuary and pathology services are commissioned by each of the Black Country councils for the storage of bodies of people who have died within their respective boundaries.

If a death is sudden, unexplained, the deceased is in custody, or unknown, then the death will be referred to the coroner by either the police, medical professionals or the hospital.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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