'Dreadful mistake' by hospital led to wrong body being buried

Following the discovery of the mix-up, in which Harrogate Hospital released the wrong body to a funeral director, an application had to be made to the Ministry of Justice for an exhumation licence to dig up the body and rebury it.

It is one of a catalogue of hundreds of serious and untoward incidents (SUIs) at hospitals in Yorkshire between January 2009 and October 2010, released under a Freedom of Information request seen by the Yorkshire Post.

The mistake happened between March and April last year and was one of 51 incidents recorded by North Yorkshire's hospital trusts.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Jim Clark, chair of the health scrutiny panel, said: "This is a dreadful mistake and a terrible situation for the family involved.

"When you take these incidents in the context of the large number of people treated throughout North Yorkshire, it is a very small number.

"But I accept it is particularly distressing for relatives of the people involved.

"People should have confidence in the health care we have in North Yorkshire."

There are nearly 340 incidents of serious untoward incidents published by the Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority under the Freedom of Information request from January 1, 2009.

The list includes errors at hospitals across the region, including a patient consenting to incorrect surgery and incorrect identification on deceased patient's wrist and ankle bands at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and patient death following delay in assessment at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

At Harrogate Hospital, the other SUIs included loss of two patients' confidential information, incorrect equipment used during surgery and hoax calls made to patients.

SUIs from the other three hospital trusts in North Yorkshire found other incidents including failure to respond appropriately to child protection issues and a patient with a Do Not Attempt Resuscitation status being resuscitated in error at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Richard Ord, Chief Executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are very sorry for any distress that has been caused and actions have been taken to ensure that this does not happen again."