A London hospital cremated one of its patients without informing his family that he had died.
Distraught relatives - including the man’s sister - were denied the chance to go to his funeral after King’s College Hospital NHS Trust failed to tell them he had died.
A complaints watchdog criticised the Trust for the “grief and distress” experienced by the man's family.
The Trust’s bereavement manager asked Lambeth Council to help find the patient’s next of kin after he died in their care in 2013.
The authority searched his house and found letters to his family, which were placed in an envelope with the keys to his property.
But the documents were lost down the back of an office cabinet and the man, identified only as Mr C in an ombudsman report, was cremated without his loved ones present.
His sister said the mistake meant her brother’s estate was charged for rent and storing his body for four months after his death.
Following an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the trust and council apologised to the man’s family and gave them £650 compensation and £750 for the rent.
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said: “The NHS provides an excellent service for thousands of people every day, which is why when mistakes are made it is so important that they are dealt with well.
“When people complain to public services they deserve answers. If mistakes are made, an open and frank apology should be given and action should be taken to stop it from happening again.”
A Lambeth council spokesman said: “We have sincerely apologised to the family for the errors that occurred in this case, and have worked to ensure they will not be repeated.”
Read More
A spokesperson for King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would like to apologise wholeheartedly once again to the family involved in this case. When a patient dies, we always do our best to contact the next of kin, which can sometimes prove difficult, as it did in this instance.
"Since this incident, we have taken a number of steps to prevent it from happening again. We reviewed our procedure on arranging funerals for patients, and amended our checklist to ensure written acknowledgment is provided by the Council following their property search.
"This ensures any information which may help us identify the next of kin is obtained and thoroughly explored before a funeral is booked."
