Chamber and committees

In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I can confirm that I have not met with the listed Community Councils and I currently have no plans in place to meet them.

All doctors are expected to work within the standards set out by the General Medical Council for good medical practice.

The Royal College of Pathologists and NHS Education for Scotland oversee training standards in pathology and their uniformity across Scotland.

COPFS regularly meets and engages with pathology providers on a range of issues. These also allow discussion on any feedback received. Every post mortem examination report is considered by a COPFS legal member of staff and our investigation is only concluded when we are satisfied that all issues have been addressed.

COPFS’ case management database does not recognise the category of death of ‘medical mishap’. However, in the majority of medical deaths where there are concerns about the circumstances there would be no requirement for the post mortem examination to involve forensic pathologists.

NHS Lothian provide pathology services for the East of Scotland. There are six full-time forensic pathologists performing both forensic and routine postmortems in Edinburgh.

In 2023-2024, NHS Lothian began providing support for the Aberdeen, Grampian and Highlands and Islands on-call and suspicious deaths due to the lack of forensic pathologists in Aberdeen to conduct double doctor forensic postmortems there.

Notwithstanding this additional workload, the numbers of examinations carried out by NHS Lothian are within the agreed maximum annual volume of post mortems and the agreed safe working level for a full-time pathologist in Scotland.

COPFS is grateful to NHS Lothian for their continued support and for ensuring continuity of these essential services whilst NHS Grampian develops a new local service in Aberdeen.

Capacity within Aberdeen mortuary is not an issue and there are no current plans to increase the capacity for conducting post mortem examinations in Aberdeen.

A new mortuary facility in Aberdeen that will co-locate the Aberdeen City Mortuary and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Mortuary business is due to open in 2025. This will provide improved facilities for staff and families who are required to engage in the post mortem process.

The proposed reforms include new standardised processes for developers to share information and consult with local communities and wider stakeholders on plans for new clean energy infrastructure before submitting an application.

This will help to involve communities at an earlier stage where they can most effectively influence outcomes, drive improvement in the quality of applications and speed up the determinations process, with new powers for Scottish Ministers to reject applications that do not meet requirements.

All locum pathologists used to cover non-suspicious Crown-instructed post mortems in Aberdeen are NHS consultants with significant experience of conducting examinations. Prior to being instructed by the Crown, each locum pathologist is interviewed by COPFS officials and an experienced Forensic Pathologist to confirm that they have the appropriate skills and experience to take on the role.

There are no identified quality issues with the post mortem examinations being carried out by locum pathologists in Aberdeen.

There were 576 Crown-instructed post mortem examinations performed at the Aberdeen City Mortuary in Aberdeen during 2023-24:

There are no forensic pathologists currently based in Aberdeen.

Two members of administration staff support the pathology service in Aberdeen.

The cost of forensic pathology is met from within the COPFS annual budget allocation from the Scottish Government which does not extend to five years.

NHS Grampian and other key stakeholders are working on establishing a forensic pathology service based in Aberdeen and COPFS is supporting that process. In addition, the opening of a new Aberdeen mortuary in 2025 will improve the experience of mortuary staff and bereaved families who engage with pathology services in Aberdeen.