Post Mortem HTA Reportable Incidents (HTARIs)

• HTA Reportable Incidents (HTARIs) are serious incidents or near-misses in licensed mortuaries that may affect the dignity of the deceased
• These must be reported to the Human Tissue Authority (HTA)

Report within 5 working days of:

• Incident occurring
• Incident being discovered
• Do not wait for internal investigations to complete

Key categories include:

• Accidental damage to a body
• Discovery of additional organs during second post-mortem
• Discovery of organs/tissue after body release
• Disposal/retention of organs against family wishes
• Unplanned mortuary closure affecting services

• Do not include person-identifiable details
• Near-miss incidents must also be reported
• Contact HTA directly for guidance if needed
• All staff working under licence should know reporting procedures

Initial Notification:

• Submit through HTA Portal
• Must be submitted by Designated Individual or Person Designated
• Ensure you have portal access set up in advance

Follow-up Investigation:

• Submit detailed report within 2 months
• Upload through HTA Portal
• Include all relevant documentation

We recognise that incidents can be distressing for the families affected, as well as for the staff involved. 

When an incident occurs, we aim to support establishments in their review of the circumstances of the incident and the actions taken to help to mitigate the risk of an incident of a similar nature occurring in the future.  

We review information received from HTARI notifications and follow-up investigation reports to identify and share lessons that can be learned about how things can go wrong and what can be done to help mitigate the risks of incidents occurring. We regularly publish learning and guidance reports.

Quarterly data about incidents is available on our website.