HM Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland: annual report 2024-2025

Dundee

Centre of Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID), University of Dundee

Principal Licensed Teacher: Dr Craig Cunningham

There are 9 licensed teachers - 6 academic, 3 technical.

Licensed Areas:

A premises licence was available for inspection as was a plan of the licensed areas within the department. Date of premises licence renewal – 7th August 2034. At the time of the last inspection, an extension to the mortuary was underway. This has now been completed and added to the plan of the licensed area which was available for inspection.

Records/Paperwork:

Records and copies of all paperwork are kept in a fireproof cabinet and offsite on a remote server. All information is stored on a bespoke database which is updated as bodies/body parts are moved around the department.

CAHID receives all bodies for embalming which are then distributed to other licensed sites (see below) as required. All bodies are embalmed using the Thiel method; there are no frozen bodies on site.

Check of Records:

A check of the records against the number of cadavers in storage plus their location (the mortuary embalming tanks, the tank room racking, side room racking) found everything to be in order.

A random selection of retained parts and their location according to the database record of retained parts was checked and found to be correct. A reverse check of retained parts and their location was then made against their recorded location in the Record of Retained Parts which was again found to be correct.

Codes Of Practice/ Signed Agreements:

There are three different codes of practice which must be signed by:

• all students before being allowed access to the dissecting room.
• all those attending external courses.
• all visitors before being allowed access, under escort, to licensed areas.
• A random check of signed codes of practice found all to be in good order.

*2023 – 2024 figures

* These bodies are off site.

Number of Intact Bodies in Storage i.e. undissected only

Embalmed (unallocated, unused) 96

Fresh/Frozen None

All bodies are Thiel embalmed; there are no fresh frozen cadavers or parts on site. All bodies are tagged in 6 places – ears, hands, feet. Whiteboards are marked up to correspond to body locations on racks.

Number of oldest body in storage and date by which it must be disposed

1701 – 29 April 2025

University Courses Using Anatomy Facilities:

• Medicine – years 1-3
• Dentistry – years 1-4
• BSc Anatomical Sciences – years 2-4
• Forensic Art
• Medical Art
• BSc Forensic Anthropology
• MSc Anatomy & Advanced Forensic Anthropology
• MSc Forensic Archaeology & Anthropology
• MSc Human Anatomy
• BEng/Meng Biomedical Engineering
• MSc Forensic Dentistry
• MChOrth Orthopaedic Surgery

External Courses Using Anatomy Facilities:

20 courses made use of CAHID facilities, some on multiple days.

Dundee Institute For Healthcare Simulation Surgical Skills Centre (DIHS), Ninewells Hospital

There are 3 personal licence holders responsible for this area, 2 academic, 1 technical.

Licensed Areas:

Access to the skills centre is controlled by a buzzer system to reception, otherwise access is restricted to staff only.

There are 3 licensed areas, the Anatomy Lab, Wet Lab 1 and Wet Lab 2; Wet Lab 1 can be partitioned into two separate working areas. All of these areas are accessed by key entry; key holders for the Anatomy Lab are the Senior Technician and the Senior Technical Assistant only, whereas Wet Labs 1 and 2 can be accessed by all technical and centre staff.

At the time of the last inspection, Wet Lab 2 was being used by the Image Guided Therapy Research Facility (IGTRF). They have now relocated to their new premises in Wilson House.

Date of expiry of the premises licence is 3 April 2029.

Bodies Currently Held In DIHS:

There were 10 bodies in storage in DIHS at the time of the inspection.

All bodies/ body parts held in the Skills Centre are controlled by CAHID. The Skills Centre has the capacity to store 12 bodies. Bodies are usually stored at CAHID, and transported to the Skills Centre when needed. All body movements between CAHID and the Skills Centre are tracked on the CAHID database.

A check of the records between those held by CAHID, those held by DIHS and the bodies in storage at DIHS were all found to be in order.

Courses Run At DIHS:

A list of some of the courses run in the Skills Centre is listed in the appendix.

Image Guided Therapy Research Facility (IGTRF), Wilson House, Dundee

Since the last inspection, the refurbishment of Wilson House has been completed, inspected and a new premises licence issued with IGTRF now relocated there from DIHS.

Date of expiry of the premises licence: 30 May 2034

There are three personal licence holders responsible for this facility, all technical staff.

At the time of the inspection there were 4 bodies on site. The number of these bodies were checked against the central data base held by CAHID and found to be correct.

Access to all licensed areas is by swipe card access.

A list of some of the courses run in IGTRF is listed in the appendix.

ENT Temporal Bone Lab, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

There are two academic licence holders responsible for this single licensed area.

Premises Licence Expiry Date – 10 December 2029

Access to the space is via an office which connects to a main outside corridor. All tissue used in the lab (temporal bones) is kept in a locked fridge when not being used. There is a security door between the office and the lab with the keys held by a licensed teacher.

All material held in the bone lab is under the control of CAHID and is recorded on their database. There is also a record of material retained in a box folder in the laboratory.

Hard Tissue Laboratory, School of Dentistry, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

There is one licence holder responsible for this area.

Premises licence expiry date – 10 March 2032

Access to the lab is via a single door with key code access. Only PhD students requiring access to the lab and technical staff know the code. There is no access to the lab outside normal working hours. The corridor where the lab area is located, since the last inspection, is now secured with swipe card access.

All material is stored in a locked metal cabinet. There are 2 keys for this cabinet one which is kept in the key safe in CAHID and the other in the Dental School. Keys are signed out and back in again.

There is a detailed spreadsheet that logs all stored material within the lab. Material moved from the lab to another location is logged using a specimen loan form. All material is returned to the lab at the end of the working day; no material is ever stored outside the lab overnight.

A random selection of teeth and their location according to the database record of retained parts was checked and found to be correct. A reverse check of retained parts and their location was then made against their recorded location in the Record of Retained Parts which was again found to be correct.