Mortuary Manager

Job summary

The Mortuary team provides a high quality Anatomical Pathology Service to the deceased and bereaved people of South of Tyne and Wear.

The post holder is responsible for the control and management of the mortuary services at Sunderland Royal Hospital, South Tyneside District Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead and providing both a professional service for the Consultant Pathologists and relative administration duties.

As part of the team the post holder will have developed advanced knowledge, experience and competency in specialised anatomical pathology techniques. It is a primary role of the post to carry out both routine and advanced post mortem procedures including the preparation of the deceased for viewing, autopsy and police identification. The post holder will provide specialist advice to users of the service within and out with the Trust in a manner commensurate with the sensitive nature of the work.

Main duties of the job

Manage and control the mortuary service services at Sunderland Royal Hospital, South Tyneside District Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead

Responsible for producing and updating Standard Operating Procedures for the mortuary including those involving mortuary support staff eg portering staff and domestics.

To advise on the department's position with regard to Trust policies eg bereavement policy, direct removal of bodies from wards, transportation of infants forms.

Involved with all aspects of staff recruitment and selection.

Provide statistics required for pathology business planning and budgetary control.

Responsible for planning daily work priorities and staff allocation and rotation across 3 sites

Keep weekly attendance records including annual and sick leave.

Organise daily and on-call rota to cover in hours and out-of-hours emergency cover across the three sites.

Responsible for recording monthly returns required by the Trusts for charging the local authority and dispatching them to the relevant department

Responsible for assessing the need for replacement stock and ordering supplies and equipment as necessary.

Act as a key holder for the department.

About us

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the 'golden thread' which runs through everything we do - they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronymICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our 'Balance' programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.

Last verified against our ingestion on 16 September 2026; sponsor register dataset 2026-09-18.