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Re: David Fuller: NHS failures enabled killer to abuse bodies - report
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Hadron Quark
Nov 29, 2023, 3:05:03 AM11/29/23
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"ELON X." <el...@protonmail.com> wrote in
Mortuary abuser David Fuller was able to offend without being caught
because of "serious failings" at the hospitals where he worked, an
inquiry has found.
Between 2007 and 2020, Fuller abused the bodies of at least 101
women and girls in Kent hospitals.
Inquiry chair Sir Jonathan Michael said "there were missed
opportunities to question Fuller's working practices".
He added the abuse "had caused shock and horror across our country
and beyond".
The inquiry has made 17 recommendations to prevent "similar
atrocities".
These include installing CCTV cameras in mortuaries, ensuring non-
mortuary staff are always accompanied and that bodies are not left
out of fridges overnight.
Fuller, who is 69, was given two whole-life sentences in 2021 for
murdering Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce and jailed for a total of
16 years for abusing corpses, meaning he will die in prison.
As well as failures of management at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells
NHS Trust, Sir Jonathan said there had been a "failure to follow
standard policies and procedures, together with a persistent lack of
curiosity".
"The senior management of the trust were aware of problems in the
running of the mortuary from as early as 2008. But there is little
evidence that effective action was taken to remedy these," he said.
There had been "little regard" given to who was accessing the
mortuary, with Fuller visiting 444 times in a year - something that
had gone "unnoticed and unchecked".
He said Fuller's behaviour was not something that could easily be
anticipated.
"It is out of the ordinary, but that is precisely why you have
policies and procedures and protocols to pick up that which is out
of the ordinary."
Analysis
By Mark Norman, health correspondent, BBC South East
This report was far more critical of the hospital trust than many
observers, myself included, had expected.
The Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury, where more than half of all
Fuller's crimes were committed, was brand new, had state of the art
facilities, and was regularly inspected.
While the trust and its managers face up to the criticism in Sir
Jonathan's report there will also be questions to be answered about
that inspection regime and whether it is fit for purpose.
But while this was a difficult day for the NHS, it will have been
horribly traumatic for families knowing that, if the hospital
managers had done a better job, Fuller might not have been able to
offend "unnoticed and unchecked" for years.
Fuller, from Heathfield, East Sussex, worked as a maintenance
supervisor at hospitals in Tunbridge Wells in Kent over three
decades.
He committed the offences at mortuaries in the now-closed Kent and
Sussex Hospital, and its successor, the Tunbridge Wells Hospital at
Pembury, between 2007 until his arrest in 2020.
Fuller gained access to morgues using his employee swipe card,
choosing times when he knew staff had gone home so the areas were
left unattended.
There, he systematically abused at least 101 corpses, the youngest
of which was aged nine and the oldest 100 years old.
At his trial, the court heard how he would visit "the same bodies
repeatedly".
Responding to the inquiry's report, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells
NHS trust chief executive Miles Scott said the findings contained
"important lessons for us".
He said "the vast majority" of the recommendations made by the
inquiry had "already been actioned in the period since Fuller's
arrest and we will be implementing the remaining recommendations as
quickly as possible."
"We fully welcome the report and will ensure that there is a full
response to the recommendations in spring 2024, and that lessons are
learned across the wider NHS so that no family has to go through
this experience again."
A second part of the inquiry was launched in July to review how
people who have died are cared for around the country, focusing on
safeguarding in private mortuaries, private ambulances and funeral
directors.
The findings of this part of the inquiry are expected in 2024.
https://news.yahoo.com/david-fuller-management-failed-stop-
115450523.html
Mortuary abuser David Fuller was able to offend without being caught
because of "serious failings" at the hospitals where he worked, an
inquiry has found.
Between 2007 and 2020, Fuller abused the bodies of at least 101
women and girls in Kent hospitals.
Inquiry chair Sir Jonathan Michael said "there were missed
opportunities to question Fuller's working practices".
He added the abuse "had caused shock and horror across our country
and beyond".
The inquiry has made 17 recommendations to prevent "similar
atrocities".
These include installing CCTV cameras in mortuaries, ensuring non-
mortuary staff are always accompanied and that bodies are not left
out of fridges overnight.
Fuller, who is 69, was given two whole-life sentences in 2021 for
murdering Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce and jailed for a total of
16 years for abusing corpses, meaning he will die in prison.
As well as failures of management at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells
NHS Trust, Sir Jonathan said there had been a "failure to follow
standard policies and procedures, together with a persistent lack of
curiosity".
"The senior management of the trust were aware of problems in the
running of the mortuary from as early as 2008. But there is little
evidence that effective action was taken to remedy these," he said.
There had been "little regard" given to who was accessing the
mortuary, with Fuller visiting 444 times in a year - something that
had gone "unnoticed and unchecked".
He said Fuller's behaviour was not something that could easily be
anticipated.
"It is out of the ordinary, but that is precisely why you have
policies and procedures and protocols to pick up that which is out
of the ordinary."
Analysis
By Mark Norman, health correspondent, BBC South East
This report was far more critical of the hospital trust than many
observers, myself included, had expected.
The Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury, where more than half of all
Fuller's crimes were committed, was brand new, had state of the art
facilities, and was regularly inspected.
While the trust and its managers face up to the criticism in Sir
Jonathan's report there will also be questions to be answered about
that inspection regime and whether it is fit for purpose.
But while this was a difficult day for the NHS, it will have been
horribly traumatic for families knowing that, if the hospital
managers had done a better job, Fuller might not have been able to
offend "unnoticed and unchecked" for years.
Fuller, from Heathfield, East Sussex, worked as a maintenance
supervisor at hospitals in Tunbridge Wells in Kent over three
decades.
He committed the offences at mortuaries in the now-closed Kent and
Sussex Hospital, and its successor, the Tunbridge Wells Hospital at
Pembury, between 2007 until his arrest in 2020.
Fuller gained access to morgues using his employee swipe card,
choosing times when he knew staff had gone home so the areas were
left unattended.
There, he systematically abused at least 101 corpses, the youngest
of which was aged nine and the oldest 100 years old.
At his trial, the court heard how he would visit "the same bodies
repeatedly".
Responding to the inquiry's report, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells
NHS trust chief executive Miles Scott said the findings contained
"important lessons for us".
He said "the vast majority" of the recommendations made by the
inquiry had "already been actioned in the period since Fuller's
arrest and we will be implementing the remaining recommendations as
quickly as possible."
"We fully welcome the report and will ensure that there is a full
response to the recommendations in spring 2024, and that lessons are
learned across the wider NHS so that no family has to go through
this experience again."
A second part of the inquiry was launched in July to review how
people who have died are cared for around the country, focusing on
safeguarding in private mortuaries, private ambulances and funeral
directors.
The findings of this part of the inquiry are expected in 2024.
https://news.yahoo.com/david-fuller-management-failed-stop-
115450523.html
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