Documentation errors fall in mortuary services

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7344.0/c

Documentation errors fall in mortuary services

A four year audit of documents accompanying all deceased patients at Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust showed a documentation errorrate of 10% in 1996-97, falling to 3% in 1999-2000. The declineprobably occurred because staff members were regularly alertedto errors as part of the process of the audit, say Hock and colleagues(p 1009). They believe that such audits are essential for mortuaryservices to run effectively and safely, and to gain public confidence.