Beareaved parents face ‘harrowing’ delays for NHS postmorterms

Shortage of specialist doctors means ‘service is in crisis’ according to chair of Royal College of Pathologists

Bereaved parents are enduring “harrowing” delays of more than a year to find out why their child died because the NHS has too few specialist doctors to perform postmortems.

The shortage of paediatric and perinatal pathologists is revealed in a report by the Royal College of Pathologists published on Sunday. It warns that the situation is “dire”, services in some parts of the UK have “totally collapsed” and families are paying the price.

37% of consultant posts in the UK are lying vacant

the UK has just 52 paediatric and perinatal consultants but 13 are due to retire in the next five years

just 3% of consultants think current staffing levels are enough to sustain their service

only 13 resident doctors are in training to become consultants in the specialty

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Source: www.theguardian.com

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