WHY?

The most recent meeting was 19th June, 2001, where it was reported that up to 4th May when the moratorium was lifted there had been 3,560 new enquiries to the hospital about organ retention. This involved almost 4,000 children. There were also over four hundrd enquiries from other trusts.

In the cases of 284 of these children, Alder Hey or the University held organs, and the families in those cases have been contacted. The hospital had difficulty in contacting 24 of the families who had been in touch, and was going to write to them.

Since 4th May there have been a further 119 new enquiries, which are still being checked, but so far 19 had been identified as being involved.

The hospital now has some new accommodation for families to use when they are viewing their children's organs. There is also a quiet area for parents.

There will be some changes in the management arrangements of the Serious Incident Team when Kate Jackson, the current project manager leaves at the end of July. The new project manager will concentrate on support to parents and managing the team, and the work around the coroner and legal issues will be separated from the team.

A policy on allowing parents to see post mortem photographs if they want is still being discussed. As some photographs may be distressing for families, counselling may be needed to help people decide whether they should look at them. The policy may also include the destruction of photographs (with external witnesses) if that is what people want.

PITY II (Parents who have Interred Their Young Twice) is the parents' support group set up in the wake of the organ retention scandal
at Alder Hey Hospital (Liverpool, UK). It aims to provide self help support and advice to affected families.

Keywords: PITY II, pity II, pity ii, PITY 2, PITY2, pity 2, pity2, Never Again, never again,
Liverpool, liverpool, organ, retention, alder hey, heart, inquiry, Redfern, redfern, scandal, support,