Bristol Council launches consultation on proposed mortuary byelaw
If there is delay in collection of a deceased person, this directly impacts the coroner’s ability to provide storage for deceased people in their care and increases the costs of the mortuary
Bristol City Council is seeking views on a proposed byelaw that would make some changes to services provided by Flax Bourton Public and Forensic Mortuary, if adopted, for six weeks until 31 October.
The proposed byelaw seeks to introduce a charge in the range of £100 to £200 per day after the three-day collection period has passed. This proposed charge may vary from time to time in line with changes in costs or as needed to encourage prompt collection. Any charges paid will also be used to maintain and operate the mortuary.
The mortuary provides services for the Senior Coroner of Avon and is used to investigate unexplained or unnatural deaths that occur in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset council areas. The mortuary is operated by Bristol City Council on behalf of all local authorities in the former Avon region.
When the coroner has finished investigating the cause and other details of a death, they release the deceased person for collection by a funeral director. The funeral director, who is usually appointed by the deceased person’s family, is responsible for storing the deceased until they are buried or cremated.
If there is delay in collection of a deceased person, this directly impacts the coroner’s ability to provide storage for deceased people in their care and increases the costs of the mortuary – a publicly funded facility.
This consultation follows increasing pressure on capacity at the Flax Bourton mortuary due to more people dying, an increase in the average time between a person’s death and their funeral. This means that the deceased needs to be stored for longer, while the growth of ‘no frills’ funeral services operate without their own mortuary capacity.
In response to these pressures on mortuary space, local NHS hospital mortuaries and the two largest funeral directors in the former Avon area have significantly increased their mortuary storage capacity in recent years.
John Pitchers, mortuary and coroner support manager at Flax Bourton Mortuary, said: “Our facility in Flax Bourton provides vital services that ensure proper and highly regulated investigations are carried out when a person’s death is unexplained or unnatural.
We work closely with funeral directors, families and health professionals in ensuring we prioritise the care and safe storage of deceased persons. To achieve these aims, it’s important that the mortuary’s limited capacity is closely managed.”
He added: “When there are delays in collecting deceased persons for burial or cremation, it means the mortuary cannot work well and runs the risk of running out of storage capacity. This consultation is an opportunity for communities across the region and those who operate in the after-death sector, to give their views on the details of the proposed byelaw.”