A FAMILY cremated the wrong body after a mix-up at a hospital mortuary.

Instead of saying farewell to their loved one, the coffin contained the body of great-grandmother Marion Greenwood whose dying wish was to be buried next to her husband and son.

The terrible blunder was revealed when her family’s funeral director arrived at Tameside General Hospital to pick up the body.

Grandson Mark Andrews, 42, from Ashton under Lyne, said: “We just can’t believe this has happened. It has devastated the whole family.” Mrs Greenwood’s ashes are now locked away at Dukinfield Crematorium. Her relatives have been told they will not be able to have them until an investigation is complete.

Grandson's heartbreak over cremation mix-up

Hospital bosses offered an ‘unreserved’ apology to both families and launched an immediate probe. A mortuary worker has been suspended while the investigation takes place.

Mrs Greenwood, who had two children and lived in a nursing home in Ashton, had been ill for several months.

She was taken to Tameside General and died on January 11.

We understand the family’s funeral director went to pick up her body seven days later but was turned away by mortuary staff.

The following day a member of the hospital’s trust board went to visit Mrs Greenwood’s daughter Susan, who is in her seventies and also lives in Ashton.

The board member explained to her what had happened. Susan then had to break the news to her horrified family and cancel arrangements for the funeral, which was due to take place two days later at the Hurst Methodist Church on Curzon Road.

Now Mr Andrews and his relatives want to trace the family who cremated his grandmother’s body to discuss the terrible mistake. The hospital did not reveal what had happened to the other body.

A hospital spokeswoman said: “The trust is looking into a recent incident in which the wrong deceased patient was released from its mortuary to funeral directors. This is the first time an incident of this type has occurred at the hospital.

“This incident occurred in spite of the fact that mortuary procedures at the hospital conform to nationally-defined standards, have recently been overhauled and are subject to period audits.

“Once the trust became aware of this incident it acted immediately.

“Initial investigations suggest a failure to follow the identification protocol within the mortuary at the time the funeral directors collected the body of the deceased patient.

“A full investigation is proceeding and a member of staff has been suspended.

“We wish to offer our unreserved apologies to the families of the deceased patients involved.”