Eight bodies were found in a state of advanced decomposition in the mortuary of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, after a failure to transfer them to a freezer in time, inspectors have disclosed. Human Tissue Authority (HTA) inspectors who visited in March discovered the bodies in a refrigerated isolation area, where they had been stored in hermetically sealed bags as a routine practice due to a lack of freezer space. The trust has “insufficient long-term freezer storage to meet the needs of the mortuary service”, the HTA report concluded, noting that the practice had a “detrimental effect on the condition and dignity of the deceased”. Inspectors also found that identification wristbands were not always checked when bodies were transferred to funeral services, increasing the risk of the wrong body being released. In one case, the wrong baby was handed to a funeral director; in another, a stillborn girl remained in a fridge when she should have been taken to the mortuary.
The trust is already at the centre of the NHS’s largest maternity care scandal. A report published on Wednesday by former senior midwife Donna Ockenden found that more than 500 mothers and babies died or were harmed at the “toxic” trust between 2012 and 2025 due to “deeply embedded systemic failures”. Ockenden devoted 29 pages of her 400-page report to the experience of Sarah and Jack Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet was stillborn at Nottingham City Hospital in 2016. They discovered her body had decomposed so badly in the mortuary that it had to be triple-bagged for her funeral. The case, Ockenden wrote, bore many “hallmarks” of how the trust’s maternity units “cruelly” treated parents and babies.
“Eight bodies found decomposing at Nottingham NHS trust mortuary due to lack of freezer space.”
Anthony May, the trust’s chief executive, apologised on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, saying: “I take responsibility and accountability for that … That happened on my watch. I’m very sorry. I’m really disappointed … The dignity and respect of people in death matters just as much as it does during their lives.” He said the matter came to his attention after the family found something in a subject access request, prompting a review of mortuary services. An action plan with independent oversight has been submitted to the regulator. Separately, Nottinghamshire Police announced on Monday that two men had been arrested in connection with practices in the trust’s mortuary service.
The HTA report identified three critical, six major and one minor shortfall at Queen’s Medical Centre, which met most standards but not those relating to the mortuary. The inspection team found that bodies held in frozen storage, those in hermetically sealed bags, and those received in an advanced state of deterioration were not subject to ongoing condition checks. The trust was advised to organise transfers to freezer spaces at the Nottingham City Hospital site before inspectors left.