Liverpool’s mortuary is “under pressure” as the city delivered 800 more funerals than a decade earlier.
A report on Liverpool’s bereavement services has identified how in the last 10 years, funerals provided by the local authority have steadily increased with spikes reported during the last two years as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. The document, put together by Cllr Liam Robinson, interim cabinet member for neighbourhoods, ahead of this evening’s select committee meeting, said case allocations at HM Coroners meant the city mortuary, located at Royal Liverpool University Hospital “remains under pressure”.
Cllr Robinson’s update said some improvement had been identified. On funeral figures, it was said cremation numbers carried out by the city “remain similar to the last couple of years which is well above the norm given the impact of COVID during 2020 and 2021.”
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Staff remain under pressure at times due to what the report describes as “the leave legacy from COVID and some staff absences due to COVID.” Funeral figures show that Liverpool Council delivered approximately 800 more funerals per year than it did in 2012 and there has been a “steady increase with a spike in 2020 due to the first Covid pandemic and a lesser spike in 2021 due to Covid.”
In the months of June, July and August this year, Liverpool Council performed 477 burials, a decrease of 531 during the same period in 2021. In that period, a total of 1,042 cremations took place, 51 more than last year.
Discussions are ongoing between the NHS, city council and coroner to deliver public health funerals and mortuary transfers, for the coroner to deliver services in house as a measure to “improve services for the bereaved and reduce costs.” This is currently done by external contractors.
On eradicating funeral poverty, Cllr Robinson said Liverpool Council is working with an independent funeral comparison website to help those who get into debt trying to pay for a send off for their loved ones. The future of pet cremations could yet hang on the results of the public consultation launched on how the council should manage Croxteth Hall.
Cllr Robinson referred in his report to an “amended project” using an alternative building on the site “which requires less investment and the impact on the capital pot will be zero.” The report will be considered at Liverpool Town Hall this evening.
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