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Deaths rise sees funeral delays
Published on Mon Apr 19 17:34:06 BST 2010
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BEREAVED families are having to wait to bury their loved ones after an unprecedented rise in deaths in Peterborough.
Funeral directors are working flat out and morgues are at capacity as the city?s hospitals, crematorium and council confirmed that the number of people who died in March was well up on last year.
This trend shows no signs of stopping either, with one cleric saying some families are having to wait up to three weeks to hold funerals, instead of the usual 10 days.
Father David Jennings, of St Peter and All Souls Church, in Geneva Street, said: ?Only so many funerals can be done in a day and at the moment some are having to wait two or three weeks.
?There certainly has been a higher percentage of funerals than is usual for this time of year.
?We have to be very sensitive with families about it because any delays can aggravate their grief, but the funeral directors are all working very hard.?
Funeral director Terry Hollowell, who runs John Lucas Ltd, in Dogsthorpe Road, said funerals are being organised as quick as ever, but their morgue is close to capacity.
He said: ?I don?t know what would happen if we had more than eight.
?It?s not just March either, since the start of the year it has been extremely busy. We normally average 90 to 95 funerals a year, and so far this year we?ve done 51. This time last year I?d done 32.
?There?s not been a backlog, but I?ve been working seven days a week to cope.
?In my 20 years I?ve never been called out twice in the same day, but that happened on Sunday.?
Peterborough City Council registered 203 deaths in March ? a quarter up on the 152 deaths in March 2009. In February 190 deaths were registered, up on 158 the year before.
Peterborough Crematorium said March had been incredibly busy with 250 cremations ? 20 per cent up on 2009.
Dave Adams, bereavement team manager at the crematorium, said such increases usually coincide with a spate of hospital bugs, such as the winter vomiting bug which recently closed wards at Peterborough District and Edith Cavell hospitals.
He said: ?It?s generally determined by what?s happening at the hospitals and if they suddenly have a bug going through them you will get a sudden spike.
?We can handle 14 to 16 cremations a day so it has not caused too many problems.?
Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed it had 153 bodies in the mortuary in March, compared to 125 last March.
But the trust denied that the vomiting bug had contributed to the increase in deaths.
Chris Wilkinson, Director of Nursing, said: ?We do experience fluctuations in the number of deaths throughout the year.
?However, I can confirm that Norovirus, which has been prevalent in the community for a number of months, has not been identified as a cause of death and does not generally have any long term side effects.?
Published on Mon Apr 19 17:34:06 BST 2010
<!--PSTYLE=WINT Web Intro-->
BEREAVED families are having to wait to bury their loved ones after an unprecedented rise in deaths in Peterborough.
Funeral directors are working flat out and morgues are at capacity as the city?s hospitals, crematorium and council confirmed that the number of people who died in March was well up on last year.
This trend shows no signs of stopping either, with one cleric saying some families are having to wait up to three weeks to hold funerals, instead of the usual 10 days.
Father David Jennings, of St Peter and All Souls Church, in Geneva Street, said: ?Only so many funerals can be done in a day and at the moment some are having to wait two or three weeks.
?There certainly has been a higher percentage of funerals than is usual for this time of year.
?We have to be very sensitive with families about it because any delays can aggravate their grief, but the funeral directors are all working very hard.?
Funeral director Terry Hollowell, who runs John Lucas Ltd, in Dogsthorpe Road, said funerals are being organised as quick as ever, but their morgue is close to capacity.
He said: ?I don?t know what would happen if we had more than eight.
?It?s not just March either, since the start of the year it has been extremely busy. We normally average 90 to 95 funerals a year, and so far this year we?ve done 51. This time last year I?d done 32.
?There?s not been a backlog, but I?ve been working seven days a week to cope.
?In my 20 years I?ve never been called out twice in the same day, but that happened on Sunday.?
Peterborough City Council registered 203 deaths in March ? a quarter up on the 152 deaths in March 2009. In February 190 deaths were registered, up on 158 the year before.
Peterborough Crematorium said March had been incredibly busy with 250 cremations ? 20 per cent up on 2009.
Dave Adams, bereavement team manager at the crematorium, said such increases usually coincide with a spate of hospital bugs, such as the winter vomiting bug which recently closed wards at Peterborough District and Edith Cavell hospitals.
He said: ?It?s generally determined by what?s happening at the hospitals and if they suddenly have a bug going through them you will get a sudden spike.
?We can handle 14 to 16 cremations a day so it has not caused too many problems.?
Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed it had 153 bodies in the mortuary in March, compared to 125 last March.
But the trust denied that the vomiting bug had contributed to the increase in deaths.
Chris Wilkinson, Director of Nursing, said: ?We do experience fluctuations in the number of deaths throughout the year.
?However, I can confirm that Norovirus, which has been prevalent in the community for a number of months, has not been identified as a cause of death and does not generally have any long term side effects.?
