Morgue staff return to main council jobs

Staff reassigned to work at a mortuary set up to deal with the potential of a Powys worse-case Covid-19 scenario have been stood down and returned to their original jobs.

The facility at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells (pictured), was hastily built in the early days of the pandemic to cope with the potential of hundreds of local deaths.

It is expected to remain open until March 2021 with basic a maintenance team on stand-by, but the empty facility is could cost the Welsh tax-payer over £650,000.

The facility has the capacity to store up to 631 bodies and was staffed by three teams on a rota basis of at least six workers. They were believed to be existing Powys County Council and Powys Teaching Health Board staff retrained for new roles at the site.

“The temporary facility at Llanelwedd, which was funded by the Welsh Government, will be maintained until it is clear it is no longer needed,” said a Council spokesperson.

“Staff have been re-deployed and only essential maintenance will be carried out to ensure the facility can be brought into use if needed in future.”

Powys has sadly suffered 93 Covid linked deaths since the first positive case was reported in the county back on March 11.

Previously, Council Leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, has said: “I think it’s quite important that we point out that we have not paid for this facility, it’s being paid for by (Welsh) government.

“In case someone says this has been an awful waste of money, it’s something we have to have.”

It has also previously been reported that use of the facility would only start once all existing mortuary facilities in the county had reached their limit.