CCTV in mortuary including post-mortem room

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:

• CCTV cameras were initially installed in the Trust’s mortuaries in the spring of 2020 (the installation at Maidstone Hospital was completed in March 2020 and the installation at Tunbridge Wells Hospital was completed in May 2020).

• CCTV was installed in the post mortem room at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital mortuary in the autumn of 2021 (the mortuary at Maidstone Hospital does not have a post mortem room). The cameras were positioned to ensure they could not view post mortem examinations taking place (although this is not always feasible).

• There are eight CCTV cameras within the mortuary at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, including two within the post mortem room. There are five CCTV cameras within the mortuary at Maidstone Hospital.

• CCTV has also been installed outside and in the Snowdrop room at Tunbridge Wells Hospital (see recommendation 6), as this room, which is used to hold deceased babies, is a satellite to the mortuary and is covered by the HTA licence.

• A retention period for CCTV images has been extended to 38-day to enable the audits of restricted areas that relate to the review of CCTV footage to continue to be undertaken monthly.

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.