Provision of Digital Autopsy Services

Overview

Birmingham City Council wishes to establish a framework agreement for the provision of Digital Autopsy Services. Digital Autopsy Service - A Digital Autopsy is a non-invasive post-mortem, referred to as a CTPM short for Computed Tomography Post-Mortem. A CTPM is a scan of the deceased, conducted by a radiographer using a CT scanner. Following which, the resultant scans are analysed by a GMC registered radiologist to produce an interpretation in the form of a digital autopsy report. The digital autopsy report contains or suggests the cause of death for consideration by a pathologist at Birmingham Central mortuary. Section 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 places a duty on the coroner to investigate certain deaths. Section 14 of the Coroners Act 2009 allows the coroner to order a suitable post-mortem examination to enable the coroner to decide if Section 1 applies. CTPM’s are an innovative technology that should in the future prevent invasive post-mortems, which many families and some religions would like to see avoided. This procurement relates to a call-off under a Framework Agreement, which does not guarantee or commit any level of expenditure. The framework agreement will commence on 01 October 2026 and will be in place for a period of 2 + 1 years subject to performance and budget availability. (Unless terminated under the terms and conditions of the contract)