26 June 2026 , 09:34
648
0
Babies were mistreated in death as well as during their short lives at scandal-hit hospital maternity units. Inspectors from the Human Tissue Authority found eight bodies in advanced decomposition due to a lack of freezer space at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
They also highlighted how a lack of checks in the mortuary was increasing the risk of the wrong body being released to funeral services.
A report published on Wednesday into the trust, by top midwife Donna Ockenden, found 520 mothers and babies had suffered potentially avoidable harm or died.
Problems with the trust’s mortuary services came to light after Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet was stillborn in 2016, discovered her body had been allowed to decompose so badly that it had to be triple-bagged for her funeral. In the HTA report in March, the regulator said although the city’s Queen’s Medical Centre met most standards, there were several shortfalls. It said: “Due to the lack of freezers, it has become routine to use body bags to store the deteriorating deceased.
“The inspection team identified eight bodies that were showing advanced deterioration.”
In one case, the wrong baby was released to a funeral director and in another, a stillborn girl remained in a fridge when she should have been taken to the mortuary.
Separately, Nottinghamshire Police announced on Monday two men had been arrested in connection with practices in the mortuary service provided by the trust.
Chief executive Anthony May told BBC Radio 4: "I take responsibility and accountability for that... That happened on my watch.
"I’m very sorry. I’m really disappointed. The dignity and respect of people in death matters just as much as it does during their lives.
"This initially came to my attention after one of the maternity families found something in one of their subject access requests about the way we’d cared for their daughter.
"We immediately commissioned with the family a review. We commissioned a separate review into the state of mortuary services today.
"We work closely with the police and the regulator. The regulator eventually came and inspected our services and found further shortfalls. We’ve got one action plan now submitted to the regulator.
"That action plan will have independent oversight, so that we’ve got the right governance and assurance in place.
"We took a lot of actions at the time. Those actions are still under way, and we’re absolutely determined to put this right, because local people deserve better, and these services need to be of a higher quality.
"We do still have the licence from the HTA, but we need to make sure we fulfil every single aspect of it."
Head of Investigations