In an official letter, the entire UK funeral sector urges the Chief Executive of Public Health England to provide the desperately needed guidelines for handling COVID-19 victims.
As the pandemic is taking its toll on many human lives, funeral directors in the UK are expressing growing concerns about not having received official guidelines on how to safely handle victims of the COVID-19. To pressure the government into taking action the Deceased Management Advisory Group (DMAG)* has written an official letter to Mr. Selbie, Chief Executive of Public Health England.
A letter of concern from the Deceased Management Advisory Group
In the letter DMAG emphasizes the growing worries of funeral workers throughout the country that no official guidelines have been provided by the government.
DMAG expresses that, even though its members have helped the government in meetings and writing to create guidelines, that the government still has not officially published any guidelines for funeral workers. In the letter DMAG states: “The guidance on the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by those caring for deceased people is still ‘coming soon’” and the organization expresses its expectation that the ‘updated guidance should have been published by now.
Critical Workers
The lack of guidance is putting an enormous stress on funeral workers who are on the list of critical workers. Critical workers are expected to continue working during a national crisis. However, there is no clarity or guidelines on how they should exactly be working to keep themselves and the community safe. Time is definitely not on the side of funeral workers as COVID-19 deaths are increasing.
Link to official letter
* The Deceased Management Advisory Group (DMAG) represents: The Association of Private Crematoria and Cemeteries (APCC), Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities (FBCA), Funeral Furnishing Manufacturers’ Association (FFMA), Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD), National Society of Allied & Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and The Cremation Society.