Security as corporate responsibility

Today I am updating the House on the response to those recommendations. The Trust published an assurance statement in February 2024 on the implementation of the recommendations from the Phase 1 report. This sets out the progress made to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations.

The range of actions taken by the Trust include requiring that non-mortuary staff and contractors are always accompanied by another staff member when visiting the mortuaries; controlling access to mortuaries using swipe cards; mandating contractors to renew security clearances every three years; and installing CCTV coverage monitoring access to and from mortuary areas. The Trust Board is also providing greater oversight and assurance of legally regulated activity in the mortuary.

I am also reassured that NHS England’s South East regional team held monthly oversight meetings with the Trust between November 2023 and April 2024 (in partnership with Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board) to ensure progress against the Inquiry’s recommendations and to review evidence of the Trust’s progress in delivering their action plan. Ongoing compliance with the Inquiry's recommendations will be monitored by NHS England through regular regional oversight meetings with the Trust, and through other channels as appropriate.

The Trust now complies with this recommendation in full on the following basis:

• The Trust has strengthened its security responsibility arrangements significantly since the Police informed the Trust of Fuller’s mortuary-related crimes in December 2020. The changes made since then have been informed by, among other things, the findings from an external peer review of security arrangements that took place in October and November 2021 (and which was then followed up by a further peer review in 2023).

• The changes made include the following points:

o The revision of the Trust’s Security policy and procedure.

o The implementation of the recommendations from the peer review of security arrangements.

o Transfer of the executive responsibility for security to the Chief Operating Officer (who is therefore the Trust’s Security Manager Director).

o The appointment of the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee as the Trust’s Security management NED champion.

o The addition of the oversight of security issues to the Audit and Governance Committee’s remit, which includes the consideration of a standing “Security issues” item at each standard Committee meeting, and the consideration of a Security Annual Report.

o The submission of a Security Annual Report to the Trust Board.

o Transfer of the responsibility for security at a functional level to the Director of Emergency Planning & Response.

o The re-establishment of a Trust Security Committee (as a sub-committee of the Health and Safety Committee), chaired by the Director of Emergency Planning & Response. The Committee includes representatives from departments and areas across the Trust (and now includes the Head of Service for the Care After Death Directorate, who gave a report on Mortuary Security to the Committee in November 2023).

o The appointment of a Head of Security Management (a new role).

o The Deputy Chief Executive/Chief Finance Officer has confirmed that the Trust’s security function can be allocated its own capital funding budget, rather than any security-related capital requirements having to be funded from the IT and/or Estates capital budgets.

• The Trust does however expect local departmental managers to retain some responsibility for security in their areas. They must therefore ensure their staff are aware of and comply with the Security policy and procedure; undertake security risk assessments of their own respective areas of responsibility; ensure that appropriate action is taken in respect of staff who are suspected of committing a criminal offence, misconduct or other breaches of security in contravention of the policies of the Trust; ensure that all staff are fully supported when making reports concerning fraud, violence, theft and damage or other security related incidents; ensure that all staff wear their Trust ID badges at all times; and investigate security breaches.

No statement on delivery from Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.