More than 100 anxious relatives have called a helpline set up by Havering Hospitals NHS Trust to deal with enquiries about the storage of dead patients' organs.

The Trust, which includes Oldchurch and Harold Wood hospitals, admitted last week that organs were in some cases removed during post mortems.

Chief executive Peter Murphy said that in the past, "normal procedure did not involve providing information to relatives about this process," and apologised for any distress this may have caused.

The news came with the publication by the Government's chief medical officer, Professor Liam Donaldson, of his national census on organ retention by NHS Trusts and medical schools in England.

Leigh Beard, of Havering Hospitals NHS Trust, said it has about 1,000 organs in storage, mainly at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford. These were taken from people of all ages and date back predominantly to 1983.

The Trust is now cataloguing the organs, a job that will take four to five weeks. Ms Beard said the Trust would only inform people who had made inquired about the results.

She added: "Everybody is working as quickly as possible to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, to put people's minds at rest."

The helpline is open until the end of this week.

The number is 01708 517930.

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