'Serious security breach' at Southmead Hospital after patient broke into mortuary

Security has been increased at a hospital's mortuary after a patient broke in through a locked door.

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) said no cold storage units or human remains were accessed in what has been classed as a "serious security breach" at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

The incident, which happened in February, was discussed at an NBT board meeting on Thursday 30 May, during which it was confirmed the investigation into the break-in has now closed.

“An incident occurred when an NHS patient with complex care needs was able to temporarily gain entry to areas within the mortuary facility after forcing doors that were locked," a spokesperson for the trust said.

“Through detailed CCTV monitoring we can confirm that at no point were any refrigerated or frozen storage units holding human tissue breached and, as such, we can give an absolute assurance that no remains were accessed at any time."

NBT said a patient was arrested shortly after breaking into the hospital's mortuary.

The trust which runs the hospital added it has improved security measures at Southmead Hospital to prevent a repeat incident.

"We have significantly increased both the strength and number of locked doors that protect the mortuary and have put in place additional measures to ensure each area of the mortuary can be secured independently of any other – so a breach in one will not affect another," an NBT spokesperson said.

"We have introduced enhanced measures to increase the speed at which our on-site security teams are able to respond to alerts in or near the mortuary," they added.

An investigation into the incident was launched by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), a Department of Health and Social Care quango, and has now closed.

Chief executive Maria Kane’s report to the NBT board meeting confirmed the incident was "classified as a HTA Reportable Incident and categorised as a serious security breach."

The report added: “The HTA has acknowledged the evidence submitted and all of the corrective actions and mitigations that have taken place and has now closed the incident."

Giving a verbal update to the board, Ms Kane said: “We are noting this publicly that the Human Tissue Authority (has carried out a) review of a mortuary incident, they have acknowledged our evidence and mitigating actions and have now decided that they are now happy to close the incident.

“But there has been learning from that, clearly, and we will continue to monitor that and have put in place additional contract expectations from our providers.”

The authority's report on the incident will be published in its next quarterly update of closed reportable incidents next month.

Credit: Adam Postans/LDRS