Sandwell post mortems in line for digital overhaul

Last year Sandwell became only the third area in the country to install a £1.2 million digital autopsy suite at Sandwell Valley Crematorium, alongside Sheffield and Bradford.

Now, the council will decide whether to allocate funds to make digital autopsies the preferred method.

If the proposal is approved by cabinet at the next meeting on March 18, the council could foot the bill for each digital autopsy carried out at the request of the Black Country Coroner.

Currently, digital autopsies are only carried out at the request of the family of the deceased, who then pay the bill, but if the proposal is passed the authority would pay for digital autopsies the same way funds traditional ones.

The cost of each autopsy works out at around £500 including VAT whereas the average cost of a traditional post mortem is close to £1,000.

Leader of Sandwell Council Councillor Darren Cooper said the proposal will avoid what he called a 'two-tier system'.

He said: "With things like this it is always the coroner's call, as he is the professional, he makes the call as to what the best procedure is.

"What we did want to avoid was a two-tier system. Some people may not be able to afford a digital autopsy and it is not fair for them to not be able to have it as an option.

"This means that the council will simply pay for digital autopsies, if the coroner thinks they are superior, the same way it pays for traditional ones."

The digital autopsy suite offers a less invasive way to carry out post mortems, using a CT scanner which means the coroner is not required to carry out a full autopsy.

Since the digital autopsy suite was installed at the crematorium in October, 20 digital autopsies have been carried out by Black Country Coroner Zafar Siddique.

Of those, two required a further traditional autopsy.

Although the plan originally was to maintain traditional autopsies for several years, the proposal has been pushed forward after 'extensive testing'.

A report submitted to cabinet by officers said: "Following a period of extensive testing, calibration and training of staff and pathologists, scanning commenced on behalf of the Black Country Coroner in January 2015.

"As a result of the leadership demonstrated by the coroner and his desire to embrace innovative working to improve service delivery for the bereaved, use of the digital autopsy facility in Sandwell has become established and is becoming the standard operating procedure."

The coroner would still have to request an autopsy in the usual manner and requests from families outside the borough would not be funded by the council.

The authority is legally required to pay for an autopsy into any unexplained death.

Previously Mr Siddique said he was impressed by the digital autopsy suite and said he believed it represented a 'real opportunity' to explore less invasive post mortems.