Ministers were furious last night that their efforts to rebuild public confidence in the NHS had been dented by disturbing photographs of bodies lying on the floor of a chapel at Bedford hospital. Ken Williams, the hospital's chief executive, resigned after an internal NHS inquiry found that up to eight bodies at a time were stored on the floor of the chapel of rest, without refrigeration and wrapped only in sheets.
Alan Milburn, the health secretary, was said to have been "distressed and appalled" when he was told that the mistake was made after the hospital's temporary mortuary was decommissioned because the doors needed oiling.
Mr Williams said: "We failed on this particular occasion."
Peter Houghton, the NHS executive regional director of the eastern region, said: "The appalling pictures that appeared in newspapers in the past two days have brought to light a totally unacceptable practice at Bedford NHS Trust.
"This has caused considerable distress not only to friends and relatives of the deceased and the general public but to staff within the hospital. Guidance insists that patients are treated with respect and dignity. That was certainly not the case last week."
The episode was particularly infuriating for ministers who had been bracing themselves for stories of difficulties for patients caused by winter pressures on the health service. This was the last hurdle that Tony Blair needed to surmount before calling an early general election in May.
So far the NHS has escaped normal winter pressures and flu levels have been lower than usual for this time of year. The bad publicity was unnecessary and avoidable.
Mr Houghton refused to lay the blame on Mr Williams personally, instead citing more general management problems. "This was a failure of management guidance," he said. "Ken Williams has discussed the findings of the investigation with the chairman of the trust, Professor Andrew Blowers and myself, and felt it right to stand down. I respect his decision."
But Liam Fox, the shadow health secretary, said the resignation did not remove the need for an independent inquiry. "We have evidence these practices have been going on for at least three years. There are major problems in this hospital that require detailed investigation," he said.
"Any such investigation must be completely independent, with outside bodies scrutinising all aspects of the directions to management and any political interference in clinical priorities and the treatment of patients."
Mr Houghton said the practice of using the chapel of rest as a makeshift mortuary ended last Friday, but he admitted that the practice had occurred before, despite Department of Health guidance issued in May last year insisting that patients are treated with respect and dignity.
He said: "This was clearly not taken on board by the trust's management. Despite having a temporary mortuary available, bodies were stored on the floor in totally inappropriate conditions."
An initial NHS inquiry took place yesterday at the hospital to establish why the temporary mortuary, bought last year to cope with anticipated winter deaths, was closed.
A hospital spokeswoman said the main mortuary was full and the temporary one was closed for "health and safety reasons" when a porter injured his hands trying to open the door.
The hospital insisted that no bodies would have been kept in the chapel for more than 24 hours.
Department of health sources said the action yesterday demonstrated that the NHS was determined to act swiftly to tackle mistakes.
The family of 77-year-old Basil Riches, from Bedford, said they had been horrified by recognising him in newspaper photographs and were planning to take legal advice.
"The whole family is devastated," said Mr Riches' son-in-law, Garry Weaver, who had travelled to England from the US with his wife Julie for Mr Riches' funeral.
"No one from the hospital got in touch to say there was a problem with the mortuary. We haven't had an apology of any kind from the hospital. He has lost all of his dignity. He was a good man who paid his taxes. He didn't deserve this," he said.
Ms Weaver said: "The hospital is going to have to answer an awful lot of questions for leaving people like that just on the floor, discarded like a piece of trash."
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