A FAMILY who described the state of an Aberdeenshire morgue as like an 'unkept old garage' when they identified a body of a relative have sparked a review of mortuary services.
Public health minister Aileen Campbell who says NHS Grampian has given reassurances no family will be asked to visit Spynie Mortuary in Elgin again, has said there is to be a review of current guidance to ensure it meets the requirements of bereaved families.
And she has told MSPs that all health boards have been asked to comply with current Scottish government guidance on mortuary provision.
Ms Campbell who issued a public apology says the guidance states that viewings "take place in appropriately serene, calming and dignified surroundings".
The family of Frank Whyte, who died in May, aged 69, have told of their shock at the state of the mortuary.
Mr Whyte's daughter Natalie said: "Spynie can only be described as a derelict collection of buildings sitting on waste ground, overgrown with weeds and in a dismal state of repair. I suffer from multiple sclerosis and was walking with the aid of a stick that day, but there was nowhere for me to sit and rest. I ended up sitting on the ground outside. It was extremely distressing.
His widow Maryan added: "Just two steps for us to be inside that awful place, and there was my husband, just lying, wrapped in a blanket and throw on a trolley. No warning of what we were entering, no place, no time for composure, just there he was."
She said the building where her husband had been laid out looked "derelict" and like an "old garage" with an "old sofa" inside and "unkempt" surroundings.
And another daughter Sharon added: "It looked like a disused outbuilding we were being taken to, not somewhere our loved one would be. Our last image of seeing [my dad] was in a little used unkept building in urgent need of replacement." The Spynie Hospital complex where the mortuary is, estimated by Moray Council to have a backlog maintenance cost of £4.26 million.
Mrs Whyte and her granddaughter Isla were at Holyrood to hear Ms Campbell say the family's experience was "troubling and deeply concerning" and led to "many questions", particularly about compliance with the guidance over the mortuaries.
"I know everyone here is and was shocked by what the Whyte family described," she said.
She said all of Scotland's health boards have been asked for information to show how current guidance is being met.
Ms Campbell added: "I have further asked if they cannot do this that they give me detailed plans of how they will rectify this as a matter of urgency."
The minister, who praised the condolences to the family and praises their "remarkable courage" as it is a "true inspiration" added that there would be "no excuses" for failure to provide adequate mortuary services.
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead who led a Scottish Parliament debate on the standard of mortuaries said: "We can all agrree that what the Whyte family went through was totally unacceptable."
Conservative MSP Douglas Ross questioned why the operators felt the mortuary was suitable as it was built in the 1930s and the hospital it was attached to was closed by the NHS 12 years previously.
Mr Whyte, from Forres in Moray, died a blast of wind caused his yacht to overturn in Findhorn Bay.
NHS Grampian has previously apologised to his family about the condition of the mortuary and switched to using a mortuary at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin.
It was used by Police Scotland following unexplained or accidental deaths in the area, and as a back-up to the mortuary provision at the town's Dr Gray's hospital.
Good to have lunch with Maryan & Isla after a debate on the state of Scotland's mortuaries. The Whyte family ensured this issue was debated. pic.twitter.com/uOfg2Rmqw2
— Douglas Ross MSP (@Douglas4Moray) October 27, 2016
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