Coronavirus: Temporary mortuaries to be installed in Sussex

A total of three are being built in the county.

The largest, with 300 spaces, is being installed in the grounds of the University of Sussex in Falmer tomorrow.

>> FIRST PICTURES OF NEW 300 BODY MORTUARY

More units are likely to arrive there next week.

The temporary mortuaries will more than double the city’s – and county’s – capacity to cope with the rising Sussex death toll as it reaches 256.

There will also be spaces for 230 bodies at Worthing Hospital and 290 spaces at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.

These are expected to be installed early next week.

This will increase the county’s total capacity by 820 to 1,463.

Dave Miller, chairman of the Sussex Resilience Forum (SRF), said he understood the announcement would be upsetting for many.

Picture of similar temporary mortuary in Bristol 

He said: “Whilst the picture for the worst-case scenario changes on a daily basis and will also be determined in part by the success of the lockdown measures in Sussex, we are expecting to deal with a rise in the number of deaths during the peak period that will take us beyond existing resource for this time of year.

“We are therefore putting measures and resources in place urgently to ensure all deaths during this period are dealt with respect and dignity and in accordance with appropriate public health requirements.”

The mortuary at the university will comprise four units. It is being supplied by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and will be arriving on the university’s grounds tomorrow.

It is in addition to current storage on the site which is managed by Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

Brighton and Sussex Medical School

The university’s total capacity will increase to 430.

Two more units, each with 75 spaces, are likely to arrive next week.

The units will be “discreetly situated” in a space in the grounds and will be shielded from public sight as much as possible to ensure privacy and reduce distress.

Speaking about the work being undertaken, Mr Miller said it was crucial that duties continued to be fulfilled during the pandemic and that reassurance was given to bereaved families, providers of funeral services and the NHS.

He said: “I know this is something we don’t want to think about, but like every LRF (local resilience forum) area in the country, we are dealing with the effects of coronavirus and part of that is to make provision for additional mortuary capacity. We continue to hope for the best, but plan for the worst, which we know the public would expect us to do.”

Temporary mortuaries have also been installed elsewhere in the country, including at a former RAF station north-east of Norwich and in Bristol.

The SRF said there are no current issues with any of the county’s mortuary capacities.

Brighton and Hove City Council, which was contacted about the plans on Monday, took two days to respond with SRF’s statement.

Another 761 people died yesterday as the UK’s coronavirus death toll nears 13,000.

Funeral directors, who spoke to The Argus last week, said the number of people dying in the city was increasing.

They also have concerns that deaths within care homes are going unreported.

“We have just collected from a home in the Sussex area,” said one funeral director, who wished to remain anonymous.

“The doctor has put down the cause of death as dementia and yet when we collected over the weekend, the staff told us she had developed a cough three days ago.

“A few days after that, the client received a call from the home confirming they had an outbreak of coronavirus.

“Further to that, we also found out from the surgery that there were seven deaths within the same home within the last number of days.”

The funeral director confirmed this care home was not in Brighton and Hove.

Asked whether they believed deaths were going unreported in the city, they said: “The point is, I strongly believe this is happening now – I would suggest there are a lot more than what’s being said.”

Another funeral director agreed, saying they could “absolutely say there are” deaths happening within the city’s homes, but that they could not elaborate further.

Many funeral directors, who also wanted to remain anonymous, told The Argus there has been an increase in the number of deaths within the area.

One said the number of overall deaths had risen “quite dramatically”, however another only noted a slight increase.

But they said: “In the Brighton area, you might have 22 or 23 funeral directors. If there were 500 people who pass with Covid-19, divided between all the directors, you are not going to see that much difference.”

This comes after the announcement that Albion could hand over the Amex in the battle against coronavirus.

The club have already held talks aimed at making the best use of their stadium and other resources while football remains on hold and their medical staff have already volunteered to help the NHS.

Paul Barber, the club’s chief executive and deputy chairman, told The Argus: “We have got a couple of discussions ongoing with the local authority, NHS and Sussex Police regarding using our facilities in a range of different ways.

“We will help in any way we can.

“If our facilities are needed, then we are happy to support that.

“Some of our medical staff have volunteered to help the NHS if their particular skills are needed.”

• The coronavirus Sussex Crisis Fund has been set up to help those affected by the pandemic. The Argus’s charity and American Express have each donated £50,000 to kick-start the appeal. Grants will usually be for up to £5,000. More information is available at www.sussexgiving. org.uk/apply. To donate visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund