Follow-up report on organ retention

1.1 It is the practice of the IPS to conduct follow-up inspections in order to promote improvement and assess the effectiveness of recommendations and their outcomes.

1.2 This report details the findings of the IPS follow-up inspection and audit of the thematic review on organ retention, published in July 2014.

1.3 The IPS first inspected the systems and processes relating to organ retention in 2014 following the identification of six cases where the nearest relatives had not been made aware that an organ had been retained for further examination at the conclusion of a post-mortem examination instructed by COPFS.

1.4 The aim of this follow-up review is:

1. to assess and report on the progress that has been made against each of our recommendations (Part 2); and
2. to record the findings of our audit of organs retained after the release of a deceased's body, in the period since the publication our report (Part 3).

Methodology

• Interviews with key personnel
• Review of practices, procedures and policies
• Examination of any case files where an organ was retained following the release of the deceased's body between July 2014 and end of January 2015. This audit provides a snapshot of organs held currently and during the previous six months.