News / Southmead Hospital
Patient breaks into hospital mortuary
Security has been beefed up in the mortuary at Southmead Hospital after a patient broke in through a locked door.
North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) says no cold storage units or human remains were accessed in what has been classed as a serious security breach.
An investigation was launched by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) and has been closed after the trust, which runs the hospital, took steps to prevent a repeat.
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NBT said the patient was arrested following the incident in February.
A trust spokesperson said: “An incident occurred when an NHS patient with complex care needs was able to temporarily gain entry to areas within the mortuary facility after forcing doors that were locked.
“Through detailed CCTV monitoring, we can confirm that at no point were any refrigerated or frozen storage units holding human tissue breached and, as such, we can give an absolute assurance that no remains were accessed at any time.
“The individual was arrested shortly after gaining entry.
“In response, we have significantly increased both the strength and number of locked doors that protect the mortuary and have put in place additional measures to ensure each area of the mortuary can be secured independently of any other – so a breach in one will not affect another.
“Finally, we have introduced enhanced measures to increase the speed at which our on-site security teams are able to respond to alerts in or near the mortuary.”
The incident was revealed at a meeting of the the NBT board, with chief executive Maria Kane’s telling the meeting that “there has been learning”.
She said: “We will continue to monitor that and have put in place additional contract expectations from our providers.”
An HTA spokesperson said a report would be published in its next quarterly update of closed reportable incidents in July.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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