Extra mortuary space being provided in Shropshire over winter deaths

A meeting is being held this week of senior Shropshire Council staff, funeral directors and Dignity, the operator of Emstrey Crematorium in Shrewsbury, to look at ways of helping the hospitals' trust.

A major breakdown at Emstrey and repairs at the Telford crematorium has meant that Dignity is having to restrict the number of services that take place in Shropshire for a couple of weeks.

It says there are still slots available and is offering Saturday cremations at no extra cost to families to prevent a backlog.

Funeral directors have said they have had to organise cremations out of the county, including Wrexham and Wolverhampton.

Glyn Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire, an area that looks to Emstrey for its cremations, said he had been told of services that had had to move to Aberystwyth.

Not unusual

Edwin Borman, Medical Director at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), said: “The trust has arranged for additional mortuary space capacity for Telford, that is already in place. For Shrewsbury, that will be arriving shortly.”

Professor Rod Thomson, director of public health for Shropshire Council, said: "At this time of the year it is not unusual for hospital mortuaries to have a greater demand on their facilities.

"With the slightly higher number of deaths due to Influenza, and the impact on funeral services due to the reduced opening hours over the festive season, pressure of on mortuary capacity and funeral director services are also higher.

"Whilst the current facilities at Emstrey are being upgraded, Dignity the operator of the crematorium has extended its services to include Saturdays.

"We continue to monitor the situation and we are working closely with Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Services to help it and local funeral services manage this demand. Senior Council staff are meeting with a number of funeral directors and the operator of Emstrey Crematorium this week, as part of its offer of assistance to the hospitals' trust."

Dignity took over the crematoria at Emstrey and Telford in 2016 and said the equipment it inherited was not up to its standards and had now suffered a serious breakdown.

"All funeral directors have been advised, however, there are a number of service times that are still available," Stuart Cox from Dignity said.

Mr Davies said he was pleased a meeting was now being held to find a way forward.