Hospital kept patients’ body parts without families’ consent
LARGE numbers of people’s body parts, including brains, were kept at Wales’ biggest hospital without their relatives knowing.
An investigation has now been launched at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after an inspection found “critical and major” failings over the storage of human tissue samples. It specifically had concerns regarding the cases of 42 patients where tissue, including five brains, had been kept for too long.
The longest retention goes back five years, but most are between one and two years. The code of practice states that disposal should be within three months.
The health board has apologised “unreservedly” to families following the findings in the Human Tissue Authority’s report.
Medical director Graham Shortland said Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB) was in the process of disposing of tissue belonging to 38 patients, and are still trying to contact the families of four other patients.
He said they only involved coroner and police cases and come from three Welsh police forces and the Gloucestershire Constabulary.
The inspection was carried out in August and looked at post-mortem practices including the retention and use of human tissue samples and organs removed after death.
It found that the systems and processes to track human tissue taken at post-mortem were “not fit for purpose” and in some cases breached the Human Tissue Act.
The Act says that tissue can only be kept for research purposes with the prior consent of the deceased or a close family member. After coroners have completed their work, the body and tissue must be disposed of sensitively, returned to the family or used for research or public health monitoring with appropriate consent.
A statement released yesterday said: “Although the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) found that Cardiff and Vale UHB had met some of the HTA’s standards, significant shortfalls were highlighted.
“The UHB has already addressed the priority areas and continues to work closely with the HTA to address further issues to agreed timescales.
“We have commenced an investigation to understand the causes of the significant decline in compliance to HTA standards since our last inspection in September 2012.”
The inspection also found that the University Hospital of Wales’ mortuary was not cleaned to the required standard and that security systems were not adequate.
There are currently no legal proceedings from any families involved.
Cardiff and Vale UHB has apologised to the families involved.
In a statement, it said: “An inspection identified failings in three critical areas, 14 major areas and nine minor areas. The health board has since been co-operating fully with the HTA to improve areas identified and put things right.
“We believe at the present time 38 of these cases the family or the coroner provided instruction to lawfully dispose, we are currently in the process of disposing of these materials.
“In the remaining four cases, the relevant authority has attempted to contact the families involved.
“There are two cases where it remains unclear as to the instructions of the family’s wishes and they have yet to be resolved.
“One is in the process of being returned to the family in line with their wishes and the remaining case is a family that has been living abroad for several years and it has been difficult to establish contact.
“Our initial audits have identified that all of the material and human tissue was taken lawfully for legitimate reasons but we accept that, as a health board, we did not dispose of them within three months as required.
“Whilst there is no immediate evidence to suggest that we undertook any further activity on these cases, this is subject to ongoing detailed investigation.”