Exclusive: Trusts told to ‘urgently’ review mortuary security

It was reported yesterday that former East Sussex hospital worker David Fuller sexually abused female corpses in two hospital mortuaries.

NHS England and Improvement has told trusts with a mortuary to submit a self-assessment report focused on four key actions and to ensure they are compliant with the requirements of the Human Tissue Authority, which regulates all mortuaries and body stores in the NHS.

In a letter sent by NHSE last month, trusts were told to ensure all access points to mortuaries and body stores are controlled by swipe-card access, that there must be “effective CCTV coverage” in mortuary areas which is reviewed regularly by a trained person, that a documented risk assessment must be done and that all trust and contracted employees must have an appropriate DBS check.

Mr Fuller is on trial for the murder of two Tunbridge Wells women in 1987. He denies the charges.

He had worked as an electrician at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells from 1989 until 2010, when he moved to work at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury.

The jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard that his job gave him access to the mortuary and that he often chose times towards the end of his shift when other staff would have left to commit the alleged offences. He would initially appear to be carrying out tasks in the mortuary but later abused the female bodies – who included a wide range of ages.

NHS England has been approached for comment.