Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 6:00pm

Undertakers furious as HSE 'axes' embalming facilities

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Local funeral directors in Westmeath are "greatly upset" at plans to withdraw embalming services at the Mullingar's General Hospital Mortuary, the Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney TD has been told.

Labour's Deputy Willie Penrose said that he was "astounded" to hear that moves had been made to end embalming services at the Mortuary "without due reference to the undertakers involved and without ascertaining the public reaction".

Deputy Penrose made his feelings on the matter clear to Minister Harney in a recent letter, saying that he had been contacted by numerous funeral directors in the county who have expressed upset at the move.

"The HSE seems to be hell bent upon diminishing the services available in Mullingar, and this appears to be just another negative decision in this regard," he told the Minister.

A spokesperson for the Health Service Executive said this week that while the HSE has "no responsibility" for embalming services at hospital mortuaries, new "Service Level Agreements" hammered out last year concluded that mortuary facilities are "no longer appropriate" to have embalming carried out.

As a result, funeral directors will have to seek embalming facilities elsewhere.

Castlepollard funeral director Micheál Cassidy said this week that he couldn't understand how the HSE could "suddenly come to the decision" that mortuary facilities in Mullingar were "no longer appropriate".

"If the facilities are not appropriate for embalming, does that mean they are no longer appropriate for carrying out postmortems?" Mr. Cassidy said.

"Embalming is a much smaller procedure, and has been provided at the Mortuary in Mullingar since 1989, so we would like to know the reason as to why these facilities are suddenly no longer appropriate.

"The facility in Mullingar is second to none, and the staff and embalmers have always been excellent."

Deputy Penrose said that the move was evidence that health facilities in Mullingar are "once again being downgraded".

"I have discussed this matter with a number of people and they are greatly upset as this facility which is provided at the mortuary premises did not cost the Health Service Executive one extra cent in relation to the provision of same," he told Minister Harney.

"The position, appears to be that this is another drive towards privatising a service, which was available to so many people, and indeed will lead to the imposition of additional costs on those people at a time when they can ill afford same.

"I am asking now that this decision which does not appear to have any logical basis in fact or otherwise, would immediately be rescinded."