Almost £1m is to be spent on post-mortem examinations after it was concluded there is a lack of capacity in Essex due to increasing death rates.

Essex County Council is set to enter into an agreement with Waltham Forest to provide capacity for post-mortem examinations at a cost of £948,000.

The agreement with Waltham Forest secures 1,000 postmortem examinations over eighteen months which can be either digital or traditional invasive postmortems.

It also pays for the collection of deceased individuals from various locations within Essex for postmortem examination and the storing of the deceased on behalf of the coroner until they are collected by family-instructed funeral directors or returned to coroners-approved facilities within Essex.

The council says that with an ageing population and increasing pressures on the NHS services, it is expected that the number of deaths will continue to rise. The pressures have been exacerbated with the closure of postmortem services at Southend Hospital.

A statement as part of a cabinet decision said: "There is a national increase in the number of deaths resulting in lack of capacity in the NHS mortuaries both to store the deceased and facilitated postmortems. With an ageing population and increasing pressures on the NHS services, it is expected that the number of deaths will continue to rise. This means that capacity available to meet our statutory duty will reduce.

"There is a need to provide capacity from a range of sources to help alleviate this pressure including additional pathology capacity for Essex Coroners to utilise. This will both ensure postmortems are completed in a timely manner and reduce the burden on body storage within the county."

It adds the contract allows Essex County and Waltham Forest to test the effectiveness of digital autopsies launched in Waltham Forest and builds a test case for wider deployment.

A statement added: "The three NHS Trusts which support Essex do not have sufficient capacity to meet demands in the short term with the closure of Southend and seasonal pressures.

"It is proposed to enter into an agreement with Waltham Forest to provide capacity for postmortems and co-operate between the participating contracting authorities with the aim of ensuring that public services they have to perform are provided with a view to achieving objectives they have in common."