Plan to transfer council-run mortuary to NHS Trust

The Black Country's last council-run mortuary could shut under a plan to transfer mortuary and pathology services to a hospital trust.

City of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet is considering moving the service to Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

The £1.5m savings proposal was approved by members in February last year, subject to full plans being set out.

The authority is currently the only one in the Black Country that still provides its own public mortuary, in Wednesfield. Authorities in Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall use NHS trust providers.

The councils are obliged by law to provide a space to store the bodies of those who had died within their boundaries in the event of cases being referred to a coroner.

Continuing to operate the public mortuary on Alfred Squire Road would mean a £1.5m investment to modernise the building, replace its roof, and provide new fridges and other equipment, a report to City of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet stated.

Transitioning services to the NHS Trust would entail a £119,000 contract, funded from "existing approved budgets within the Coroners and Mortuary services", it added.

A potential option to dispose of the Wednesfield site would deliver annual cost savings of £70,000, the document said.

Two posts would be affected by the transfer, with workers protected by TUPE regulations.

The cabinet is recommended to approve the transfer, which will be decided during a meeting on Wednesday.

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