Health Board plan met with criticism

A HEALTH board has been criticised for centralising post mortem facilities and adding to the trauma of families by forcing some to travel up to 140 miles of a round trip to identify bodies. They also fear the move will delay funerals for already distressed relatives.

Proposers of the plan have argued that the move will streamline the service and speed up lengthy delays already being experienced by families and funeral directors right across the south east.

The South Eastern Health Board has voted by 23 votes to 5 to close its morgues in Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Clonmel and centralise services for the south east in Waterford.

The staff working in the morgues which are to close will not lose their jobs.

Upgrading the facilities in Waterford to meet health and safety requirements will cost anything between €0.75 and €1.9 million.

It is an extra burden for the board, which has already frozen 60 jobs in a bid to save €850,000 this year. And it is €5 million in debt.

Carlow councillor and health board member, Michael Deering, says families have been left out in the cold in an effort to suit a bunch of officials and medical professionals. He said it was not fair that people from Carlow would have to travel over an hour away to Waterford for post mortems.

“We are approximately 70 miles from Waterford. We have facilities here in Carlow. We can’t see any reason why we can’t keep these facilities. Spending such an amount of money on post mortems is crazy, given the needs elsewhere in the health service,” he said.

Fine Gael Councillor, Tom Maher, recommended the decision to centralise post mortems in Waterford. He is chairman of the general hospitals committee of the health board and was involved in the investigation.

He said coroners were spending more time on the road than doing post mortems under the existing system.

“By centralising facilities, coroners can at least get three or four post mortems carried out a day, as opposed to one or two. Bodies can then be returned to families a lot quicker. We have assurances that any remains in a centre by 12 noon will be returned the same day. It will be a much better service for the bereaved families,” he said.

It was a controversial decision for the board to make, he said. “In the event of an accident or a sudden death, it is the gardaí and the coroner who decide if a post mortem is required. Once you reach that stage, it is in the hands of them to decide who removes the remains and where the post mortems will be carried out.

“There will be no additional cost on the families. The coroner will foot the bill of removing and returning the body,” he said.