Emergency with a suspiciously big bill

I was astounded to read that Cardiff council has spent £2.6m on temporary mortuary facilities that were not available for use until towards the end of April.

Astounded because Cardiff & Vale area has recorded to date 337 deaths from Covid. That means this facility has cost £7,715 per deceased person.

It should be remembered that the hospitals have had adequate mortuary space to retain the persons who passed away from other causes as they do at all times of year, so the very most case is 337 deaths over a period of months and as such the reported cost is totally unreasonable and should be investigated. £2.6m could have paid for a huge amount of social care.

Astounded because had the University Hospital of Wales used its capacity to good effect and not shipped deceased persons around from hospital to hospital (which they do during normal times) without telling the bereaved families and the funeral directors involved, there was a good chance that the facility may not have been required at all, particularly if the existing mortuary facilities operated seven days a week for at least a 9-5 window of collection times rather than the restricted hours and days of access they have operated on for the last four years.

The emergency mortuary was not available until the end of April. It has not been used since July. How could it possibly cost £809,000 in September? Where is this money being spent (who is getting it)? Surely rent for a month cannot cost almost a million pounds?

It is further reported that the council spent £5.3m on PPE. This should be audited – what did they buy, where did they buy it from, did they get value for money?

In fact, as most of the council were working from home, why did they need so much PPE? Care homes said they were inadequately supplied, so it is unlikely that it was given to them. Bus drivers seemed not to have any. Refuse services appeared not to be wearing any extra PPE.

I have to say the potential waste of council tax payers’ money is eyewatering and borders on criminal incompetence.

Whoever was placed in charge of this needs to answer some pointed questions, not least how can the temporary storage of deceased persons cost nearly £8,000 for just a few days in a less than state-of-the-art facility (a converted cold store)?

It is worth noting that a purposebuilt permanent unit would cost less than £2,000 per space, multiply that by 200 and you arrive at a mere £400,000... It is highly unlikely as many as 200 spaces were required at any one time, so the actual cost could well have been less.

So where has the rest of our money gone?

John Pidgeon

Victoria Park, Cardiff