funerals

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust,

I am undertaking a study on the numbers of Public Health/Welfare
Funerals undertaken by NHS Trusts. I would appreciate it if you
would provide answers to the following FOI request.

1. The total number of public health funerals (where the deceased
has no relatives or there is no one else willing to pay) that your
Trust has undertaken for the financial years 2010/11, 2011/12,
2012/13?

2. The number of public health funerals that your Trust has
undertaken by gender for the past 3 financial years?

3. The number of public health funerals that your Trust has
undertaken by age for the past 3 financial years?
Since April 2010, how many cases have there been where family and
friends refuse to finance or make arrangements for their relatives
funeral?

4. How much have the burials/cremations cost the Trust broken down
by year for the last three financial years? This cost information
does not need to include administrative or staff costs, and before
any costs are claimed back by the local authority from the
deceased’s estate

5. How much does your trust typically (average cost) pay for a
Public Health Funeral?

6. What does your Trust provide at a Public Health Funeral?

7. What relationship do you have with your local council(s)
regarding funerals of this nature?

8. Have you observed any of the following over the last three
years?

• Higher numbers or people dying without any income or assets
• Higher numbers of people dying with family or friends unable to
contribute to the costs of a funeral
• Higher numbers of people dying with family or friends unwilling
to contribute to the costs of a funeral
• Higher numbers of people dying with no friends or family

Yours faithfully,

paul ogden