A FORMER Riverina health boss turned MP hopes a review of post mortems in NSW leads to some autopsies occurring in Albury and Wagga.
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Member for Wagga Joe McGirr has welcomed scrutiny of coronial services by a taskforce involving justice and health departments.
The action follows bereaved relatives being left upset by long delays due to bodies being taken to Newcastle or Sydney for autopsies.
Dr McGirr, a former chief executive of the Greater Murray Area Health Service that included Albury Base Hospital, said there were various points in the coronial system that were not working.
He cited communications with families, transportation of bodies and where autopsies occur.
"The criminal justice system is geared towards dealing with criminals and justice and it's not entirely geared to dealing with grieving families," Dr McGirr said.
"I think the system sometimes treats families as though they're criminals, it doesn't mean to, but it does and that's got to be looked at."
Dr McGirr hopes the study of the system will result in non-complex post mortems being done outside Newcastle which has been the hub for autopsies in recent years.
"I suspect that it will be difficult to have full autopsies done outside Newcastle because of the shortage of forensic pathologists but I would hope we could undertake limited autopsies in regional centres," Dr McGirr said.
Non-invasive checks, such as CAT scans, blood tests and external scrutiny could be done in Albury or Wagga.
Table Top CWA member and retired nurse Janet Drummond agreed with Dr McGirr's view on the need for regional autopsies.
She successfully put a motion at a CWA forum in May to lobby the state government to end post mortems being restricted to Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong.
"Wagga and Albury have got all the technology and both have got MRIs, they could use a lot more technology for the everyday post mortem," Mrs Drummond said.
"It all comes out of the health budget, so why not use a lot more of it down here."
The pain caused by delays featured in the NSW parliament on Tuesday when Albury MP Justin Clancy raised the case of the late Tony Iverson, whose family was left waiting for 31 days to receive his body from the coroner after his death in January.
Mr Clancy also noted the concerns of Lester and Son Funeral Directors area manager John Vogel who has advised of the impact of coronial delays on Border families.
Mr Vogel said on Wednesday that over summer grieving relatives had been faced with an average wait of 19 days and that was now 10 days which he said was "unacceptable".
In Victoria, where bodies subject to coronial processes go to Melbourne, the turnaround is four to five days.
Until the mid-2000s coronial services were provided at Albury Base Hospital.
"I do believe if specified coronial services were provided locally or regionally it would significantly improve the timeframes for families," Mr Vogel said.