Beareaved parents face ‘harrowing’ delays for NHS postmorterms | NHS

Bereaved parents are enduring “distressing” delays of more than a year to find out why their children died because there are too few specialist doctors on the NHS to perform autopsies.

The shortage of pediatric and perinatal pathologists was revealed in a report published by the Royal College of Pathologists on Sunday. It warns that the situation is “horrible”, that services are “completely collapsing” in some parts of the UK and that families are paying the price.

The college says there are so few doctors in the NHS that the bodies of babies and children who die in some areas have to be taken elsewhere for examination, such as from Northern Ireland to Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool.

Dr. is the chairman of the university’s advisory committee representing pathologists who specialize in the care of patients under the age of 18. “Our service is in crisis,” Clair Evans said. “This has a significant and distressing impact on families who regularly report a long and distressing wait for post-mortem results.

“Currently, one in five families is waiting six months or more, with some waiting more than 12 months. There are not enough counselors to take on the job and families are suffering.”

For example, BBC reported in July The case of Katie Louise Llewellyn and her partner Aled Wyn Jones, from Carmarthenshire, were waiting to hear why their three-year-old son Tomos died unexpectedly while on holiday 13 months ago in June. There are only two consultant pediatric and perinatal pathologists in Wales.

There are none working in Northern Ireland, the south-west or England’s Midlands, according to a workforce audit published by the university. As a result, families “may experience unacceptable delays while waiting for test results” that explain why their child died.

“Bereaved families are facing a major increase in waiting times for autopsy examinations of their babies and children or being transferred out of their area,” the report states. Postmortems “can assist parents with the closure process and provide information to aid management in subsequent pregnancies.”

The college found:

• 37% of consultant positions in the UK are vacant.

• There are only 52 pediatric and perinatal consultants in the UK and 13 of these are expected to retire within the next five years.

• Only 3% of advisors think current staffing levels are sufficient to maintain their services.

• Only 13 assistant doctors are trained to become consultants in their specialty.

Dr Clea Harmer, chief executive of baby loss charity Sands, said the report “adds to growing evidence that workforce shortages are causing unacceptable and heartbreaking delays in receiving postmortem results for bereaved parents.”

He said: “At Sands, we regularly hear about the devastating impact long delays have on parents who are left in limbo, waiting for the answers and vital information they need to plan their future.”

Harmer said ministers and NHS bosses needed to do more to “bridge the painful gap between when a baby dies and when parents find out why”.

In addition to performing autopsies, pediatric and perinatal pathologists help diagnose and treat sick children, including conditions that lead to screening of other relatives.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Bereaved parents have experienced any distress that is unthinkable and avoidable for families in this heartbreaking situation and this is unacceptable.

“There are record numbers of doctors in the NHS in almost every specialty, including pathology, and our 10-year health plan promises to create 1,000 new specialist training points, focusing on the specialties where there is the greatest need.”