Staff at a scandal-hit hospital mortuary have released the wrong person's body on six separate occasions since the facility first opened its doors. The Scottish Mail on Sunday has revealed a series of devastating blunders at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) morgue in Glasgow, resulting in five formal complaints being submitted to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Families Endure Unimaginable Distress
In one particularly harrowing case, a grieving family cremated the wrong person after mistakenly believing they were laying their own relative to rest. The £1 billion hospital, which opened in 2015, has been plagued with persistent problems throughout its operation, including being at the centre of a major public inquiry after cancer patients contracted rare infections during treatment.
Multiple Incidents of Mortuary Mismanagement
In December of last year, it emerged that mortuary staff had been suspended and an investigation launched after a catastrophic corpse mix-up led to a family cremating someone who was not their relative. This heartbreaking mistake was only discovered after the funeral service had already taken place, leaving another family without their loved one's remains for proper burial.
The newspaper also reported how grieving woman Nicole Brammer was left traumatised after discovering her grandmother's body had been released to a funeral director that she had not employed following her death at the QEUH in November 2025. Ms Brammer's beloved grandmother Agnes Lane had to be retrieved by the correct undertaker after her body ended up with a completely different company.
Political Outrage and Calls for Investigation
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane branded the repeated blunders as 'unforgiveable' and called for immediate police involvement. 'At a time when families are grieving, these shocking blunders cause significant distress,' he stated. 'One incident is too many. Six is scandalous. Police Scotland should investigate this matter thoroughly.'
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie expressed deep concern about the revelations. 'This is a concerning revelation, and it will no doubt worry families who have lost loved ones at the QEUH,' she said. 'The release of a body in error would undoubtedly be distressing, and my sympathies extend to all those who have been affected. This is not the first time this has happened, and urgent steps must be taken by the hospital and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to ensure that it does not happen again.'
NHS Response and Ongoing Investigations
According to official NHSGGC statements, five complaints have been submitted about the QEUH mortuary service since it opened in 2015, with six individuals having been incorrectly released after their deaths. It is understood that only one incident resulted in the wrong person being cremated, with the other five cases being discovered before any final arrangements had been completed.
An internal investigation remains ongoing into the blunder that resulted in someone being wrongly cremated last year, while the Inspector of Burial, Cremation and Funeral Directors is also conducting a separate probe into the mortuary mix-up.
Health Board Apologies and Process Reviews
Dr Scott Davidson, the NHSGGC medical director, has previously issued a formal apology, acknowledging that while the health board mortuaries maintained 'very rigorous' identification and labelling processes, it was 'of deep regret that these have not been adhered to and that a family have been caused significant additional distress.'
An NHSGGC spokesman offered a sincere apology to all families affected by mortuary mishaps at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. 'NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde offers a sincere apology to the affected families,' the statement read. 'We recognise the additional distress this has caused and are committed to learning from these incidents to strengthen our processes and prevent future occurrences.'
The hospital continues to face scrutiny over its operational standards, with these latest revelations adding to an already troubled history of service failures at the Glasgow facility.
