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Dead body in NHS hospital's mortuary could be seen from a public footpath after staff propped open a fire door during the heatwave

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Cite

Bas, J. (2026, September 15). Dead body in NHS hospital's mortuary could be seen from a public footpath after staff propped open a fire door during the heatwave. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16132253/Dead-body-NHS-hospital-worthing-mortuary-public-footpath.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-09-15 · by Jada Bas

Quick Summary

During a heatwave on July 7 and 8, inspectors from the Human Tissue Authority found that a fire door at Worthing Hospital’s mortuary was left open, allowing passersby on a public footpath to see inside where bodies were being prepared for release. The inspection also revealed several other issues including improper storage of bodies beyond the recommended period and inadequate backup power supply for refrigeration units. University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust acknowledged these findings and stated that many issues have already been addressed since the inspection.
Written by AI on 2026-09-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

HTA inspectors visited Worthing Hospital in West Sussex during a heatwave on July 7 and 8, finding that a fire exit door leading to the hospital's mortuary was frequently opened. This left a dead body visible from a public footpath, providing unrestricted access and a direct line of sight. Inspectors also noted that live CCTV footage of viewing tables at Worthing Hospital and inside body storage fridges at St Richard's could be viewed on monitors in the security office. Additionally, they found that the camera monitoring the mortuary office fire exit door was not operational. The report highlighted issues with staff not consistently following standard procedures, leading to risks such as grieving families potentially being shown the wrong body due to incomplete consent records under the Human Tissue Act.

Written for “NHS Mortuary Incident” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 NHS Mortuary Incident
Health · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
68/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Health
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 8535 article(s) · 20 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 20 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Jada Bas
36 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Jada Bas
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 36 articles by Jada Bas →

Topics

HTA West Sussex Worthing Worthing Hospital the Royal Sussex

Subjects

Trust ORG · 3× Worthing Hospital ORG · 3× HTA ORG · 2× West Sussex GPE · 2× Worthing GPE · 2× the Human Tissue Authority ORG · 2× the Royal Sussex ORG · 2× Daily Mail ORG · 1× Human Tissue Authority ORG · 1× NHS ORG · 1×

Narrative

A dead body at Worthing Hospital mortuary was seen from a public footpath after staff left open a fire door during the heatwave, inspectors have found The mortuary is on the ground floor of the North Wing and inspectors said when the door was left open this provided a 'a direct line of sight from a publicly accessible footpath' Inspectors said staff were not consistently following standard procedures and found three identifying factors were not routinely checked against details shared by families.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15
🔮 It was also found that tissue was stored with incomplete consent records, meaning the Trust could not adequately prove consent had come from the right person required under the Human Tissue Act.

Claims (20 extracted, 1 hedged)

- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source A dead body in an NHS hospital mortuary was seen from a public footpath after staff left open a fire door during the heatwave, inspectors have found. asserted
inspectors → see → heatwave
Human Tissue Authority (HTA) inspectors visited Worthing Hospital in West Sussex during a heatwave on July 7 and 8. asserted
inspectors → visit → July
The fire exit door was 'frequently opened' during hot weather which meant that 'unrestricted access' to the body store was available. asserted
access → open → store
Inspectors continued that when the door was left open this provided 'a direct line of sight from a publicly accessible footpath' to the mortuary. asserted
this → continue → mortuary
They added that from the footpath the team 'observed a body being prepared for release' during their visit to the hospital. asserted
body → add → hospital
Live CCTV of viewing tables at Worthing and of the inside of body storage fridges at St Richard's, was visible on monitors in the security office, the inspectors revealed. asserted
inspectors → view → office
The camera monitoring the mortuary office fire exit door at Worthing Hospital was 'not operational', the report noted. asserted
report → monitor → Hospital
The report also found grieving families were at risk of being shown the wrong body. asserted
families → find → body
A dead body at Worthing Hospital mortuary was seen from a public footpath after staff left open a fire door during the heatwave, inspectors have found The mortuary is on the ground floor of the North Wing and inspectors said when the door was left open this provided a 'a direct line of sight from a publicly accessible footpath' Inspectors said staff were not consistently following standard procedures and found three identifying factors were not routinely checked against details shared by families. asserted
factors → see → families
The report said this posed 'a risk of bereaved families viewing the wrong body' and records did not show if the staff who held the viewings had been trained or assessed. asserted
who → say → viewings
A number of other failings were also recorded, including seven bodies at Worthing and the Royal Sussex which were held in refrigerated storage for more than 30 days and were deteriorating. asserted
which → record → days
Fridges and freezers at the Royal Sussex and the Princess Royal had no backup power supply in the case of a power cut. asserted
Fridges → have → cut
It was also found that tissue was stored with incomplete consent records, meaning the Trust could not adequately prove consent had come from the right person required under the Human Tissue Act. uncertain
consent → find → Act
During the inspection of Worthing Hospital and satellite sites – St Richard's in Chichester, West Sussex and Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton – which are run by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, HTA officials identified 10 major and six minor shortfalls of the HTA standards. asserted
officials → run → standards
A University Hospitals Sussex spokesperson said: 'The dignity, security, privacy and respectful care of people after death are of fundamental importance to us, and we take the findings of the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) extremely seriously, including the areas identified by the inspection where our standards needed to improve. asserted
standards → say → inspection
The vast majority of the areas identified in July have already been addressed, including all aspects of processes and procedures where inspectors identified any potential risk of error. asserted
inspectors → identify → error
The report also found grieving families were at risk of being shown the wrong body ' asserted
families → find → body
We have also made immediate improvements to strengthen security and privacy, alongside a number of other changes to the physical environment, and more widely the Trust has already begun a far-reaching programme of improving all mortuary facilities across our hospital sites. asserted
Trust → make → sites
The Human Tissue Authority has not suspended or revoked the Trust's licence, and we continue to work closely with the regulator to ensure the highest standards of care, dignity and respect for deceased patients and their families. asserted
we → suspend → patients
In the wake of the David Fuller scandal, NHS Trusts were asked to take action to ensure all access points to mortuaries or body stores are controlled by swipe card security access and ensure there is effective CCTV coverage monitoring access to and from mortuary areas. asserted
points → ask → areas
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