Covid-19: Temporary Lincolnshire mortuary use discussed as deaths rise

Mortuary capacity at Boston Pilgrim Hospital is about 90%, a police chief said

A temporary mortuary created during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic may need to be brought into use, a senior police officer said.

Ch Supt Paul Timmins said the facility on the former RAF Woodhall Spa site could be needed within two weeks if death numbers continue to rise.

He was addressing the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum, which co-ordinates action between public bodies.

There have been 78 Covid-19 deaths in the county over the past week.

Ch Supt Timmins explained to the forum that mortuary capacity at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital had reached 90%, which had led to some bodies being transported to Lincoln County Hospital.

There was "significant" capacity at Lincoln but Ch Supt Timmins admitted the use of the Woodhall Spa site was discussed regularly.

He added: "At the moment, the answer is no, we don't need to yet, but certainly what we can say is that as things are progressing and if things don't change in terms of the direction of travel that we've seen in the last couple of weeks, then we could very well get to that position in the next couple of weeks."

A total of 393 people have died in Lincolnshire after testing positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic according to government figures, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Ch Supt Timmins said providing staff resources from elsewhere to help hospitals transport those who have lost their life was important to show that loved ones were "being treated properly and with respect, and that we're finding good places for them to be stored until such time they can go through a medical examiner or funeral processes".

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