HM Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland Annual Report to the Scottish Ministers 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026

Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

Head of Anatomy: Professor Tom Gillingwater

There are 7 personal licence holders, 5 academic and 2 technical.

All licences were available for inspection.

A detailed spreadsheet was made available indicating specifically the role and remit of each licensed teacher.

Licensed Areas:

Premises License expiry date – 22 August 2032.

A map of the licensed area was made available for inspection.

Record Keeping:

A comprehensive record keeping system is in place; this is held both as a paper copy and backed up on a university server to which only the Head of Anatomy and the Bequest Coordinator/Chief Technician have access. The paper copy is stored in a fireproof cabinet.

There are plans afoot to modernise the record keeping system, which is very paper heavy, and move it to a computer based system possibly to something similar to that currently being used at St Andrews .

Bequest Information:

Bequest forms requested

257 (202)*

Bequest forms returned

155 (128)*

Bequests accepted

40 (39)*

Bequests unable to be accepted

67 (52)*

Bequests redirected

Dundee - 6, Glasgow - 14 St Andrews - 3

Redirected bequests accepted

0

*2024-2025 figures

Bodies Currently Held in The Department:

Un-dissected embalmed

18

Dissected embalmed

28

Undissected fresh/ frozen

23

Dissected frozen

26

Total

95

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

2331 – 30 June 2026

Record Check:

A comprehensive check of the records against the number of cadavers in storage plus their location according to the wall plan found everything to be in perfect order.

A random selection of retained parts and their location according to the 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 correct.

Code of Practice/Signed Agreements:

Everyone using cadaver material in the teaching lab is required to read and sign a Code of Practice. This was made available for inspection.

University Courses Using Anatomy Facilities:

Over the past year, 11 University courses used the anatomy facilities.

Nine external courses used the anatomy facilities – see Appendix for a list of some of these.

Courses Run at The Royal College Of Surgeons Using Cadaver Material from the Department:

Bodies and body parts are transferred between the anatomy department and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for courses run by the College. A tracking system is in place to monitor the movement of specimens between the two establishments.

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Skills Centre Manager: Lynsey Forbes

There are 6 technical personal licence holders at present. Four work in the Skills Centre, one works in the College Museum and one is Education and Examinations. All licenses were made available for inspection.

Premises Licence expiry date: 3 May 2027

Access To Licensed Areas:

Access to all licensed areas is via a Paxton networked control system. A floor plan showing all the doors secured using the system was provided. The system allows real-time monitoring and control of who has access to different areas and can be used to restrict access to a specific timeframe.

All doors are fitted with magnetic door closures and are locked at all times when cadaver material is present in the Skills Lab, access being by wipe card only.

Lab delegate cards can be activated and issued to course delegates and faculty members, allowing them access to relevant areas for the duration of the course. Activation/deactivation of the cards is controlled by the Skills Centre Manager.

Signage is used within the Skills Centre to indicate where cadaveric specimens are being stored; access to these areas is only permitted when there is a licensed teacher onsite. Storage areas are also additionally locked with separate mortice locks when cadaveric material is unattended.

When the Skills Centre team leave at the end of the day, the College Officers are notified and the Centre doors locked both by the Paxton system and separate mortice locks.

The alarm system is monitored by ADT Alarms who contact the Properties Department staff or the night team of the College. If it is determined that the triggering of the alarm involves the Skills Centre and there is cadaver material onsite, then the Skills Centre Manager is informed immediately.

Record Keeping/ Signed Agreements:

A copy of the Code of Conduct for those participating in College examinations/courses using cadaver material must be signed and returned to the Skills Centre Manager before anyone is permitted to enter the Skills Centre. These were available for inspection.

Course attendees and faculty members are issued with a Health & Safety form which must be read and signed at the beginning of the course. This form includes information and guidance on working with cadaveric material.

Courses Run in the College using Cadaveric Material.

For the period covering the inspection, 17 courses were run in the College.

Bodies are received from the University of Edinburgh – 7, the University of Dundee (CAHID) - 6, the National Repository, Nottingham 2, *Science Care, USA – 6 and Innoved Institute, USA – 2.

* Arrangements are made for body parts from Science Care and Innoved Institute to be cremated at Borders Crematorium in accordance with the relevant regulations. Copies of all required paperwork are sent electronically to the crematorium in advance of the scheduled cremation. Afterwards the crematorium provides a certificate of cremation (paper copy) to confirm final disposal of the cadaveric specimens.

In all cases there is a clearly defined checking process with corresponding documentation which I am satisfied meets the requirements of the Anatomy Act 1984 as amended by the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006.

Due to the increased demand for courses to be run at the College, there is now a serious problem of sourcing cadaver material to meet this demand. This situation is not helped by the need of the five medical schools in Scotland having to meet the increased need for cadavers required to teach the increasing number of medical students they now have to accept.

Courses Run in the College using Cadaveric Material – see appendix.

No bodies currently held on site at the time of the inspection