Ruth speaks up in Parliament about standards at West London Coroner's Court

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Ruth Cadbury MP has spoken up for local residents in a debate in Parliament to discuss serious concerns about standards at the West London Coroner's Court.

Before the debate Ruth said, "Delays in issuing death certificates have caused huge disruption and pain for families coping with the death of a loved one. I do not underestimate the problems that the delays at the court have caused.

"I recently had a tragic example here in our constituency of the heartache caused by these delays. One of my constituents, sadly passed away at home in Chiswick in April, at the age of eighty five. As he had not seen two doctors in the preceding months he was taken to the mortuary and referred for an autopsy. In order to make arrangements for the funeral, the family rang the coroners office to establish timings for the release of his body. They were held in a queue for more than fifty minutes on the phone, without reply, and directed to send an email.

"Two weeks after his death, the family were still waiting. They had not received an acknowledgement of the email and no phonecalls were answered or returned. They did eventually get an answer, but for sixteen days, the family did not even know whether the remains would be subject to autopsy or when the body would be released back to the family.

"They got in contact with me because of the ‘simply inappropriate’ response times for the court.

"This situation has got out of control and is wreaking havoc for grieving families."

To see the full debate in Parliament click here: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/84e02471-3eca-48fb-ac26-d192d8… Ruth's contribution can be found at 5.10pm.

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