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Substantial, by the hospital's definition, is between 10% and 90% of an organ. Anything less than 10% is a fragment.

Unless you have been on a desert island, you cannot fail to have seen the latest news from Alder Hey Hospital.

The first case involved a woman who had been visiting what she believed was the grave where the body of her baby was buried in Everton Cemetery for 18 years. The Serious Incident Team at Alder Hey (who were acting on behalf of the University), contacted her to tell her that her baby had been kept in the university. The university has said they are investigating what has happened, but with their track record of lack of openness, it remains to be seen if they will let us know what their investigation uncovers.

The second case was a family whose child died in 2000; when the hospital was stating that they had stopped all organ retention. The family was contacted recently by the Serious Incident Team and told that substantial parts of some organs had been retained. These had been kept in the mortuary. The purpose of taking the parts of organs was to enable blocks and slides to be done in order to try to establish the cause of death. The hospital maintains that this was good practice at the time and that there was no attempt to mislead. The parents had sought assurances from the pathologist and the hospital, both in 2000 and 2001 that nothing had been retained.

One of the problems seems to be that the words used are confusing. Substantial, by the hospital's definition is between 10% and 90% of an organ. Anything less than 10% is a fragment. If a large number of blocks and slides need to be taken then this can result in over 10% being taken. Normally 10-15% of an organ is taken for histology.

In the past the parts that were not needed after the blocks had been prepared were disposed of. In early 2000 the hospital was ordered not to dispose of any organs or tissues, so the remaining tissue was kept. Since July 2000 sample taking has been limited and the pathologist has only taken the tissue needed for blocks and slides.

It is a great shame that despite all the statements about openness and transparency from the hospital that information such as this is still coming to light. We can only hope that the hospital will try and learn from this again and be completely honest with families about what is happening.

The hospital has also contacted families who have made enquiries where there was no organ retention, but where blocks and slides were taken. This is to let the families know about the blocks and slides and to offer them the choice of what should happen to them. Some families have asked for them back, others have said they want them to remain at Alder Hey, and some are still considering what they want to do.

The new counselling service, funded by Alder Hey but run independently of it, is now getting under way. Some people have opted for counselling at the Alder Centre, and others want it at an outreach centre. The service will have an administrative base at Dovecot

 

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