IMPROVEMENTS will be made to the way stillborn babies are buried following an Oxford Mail investigation.

In March, we revealed pre-term foetuses born at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital were being buried in a communal grave every two weeks.

The bodies were covered with a thin layer of soil and a wooden board, 3ft by 6ft, was then placed over the top of the open grave until the next group burial.

One mother who lost her son said the practice failed to give her family the respect it deserved.

But following the Mail’s article the hospital and Oxford City Council, which carries out the burials, have pledged to buy a new grave cover and improved the information provided to grieving parents.

Kelly Williams, 22, from Littlemore, Oxford, was four-and-a-half months pregnant when she lost her baby son Mennis Lee.

She decided to have the burial service arranged through the hospital’s chaplaincy department and carried out by the council at Headington Cemetery.

Miss Williams attended the burial but said she was disgusted when she returned to the cemetery and could still see roses she had left in the grave. She said she had been led to believe the grave, in which six other pre-term babies were buried on the same day, would be properly filled in after the service.

At the time, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said normal procedure for the burial of “non-viable foetuses” – the medical term for babies who die in the early stages of pregnancy – had been followed and explained to Miss Williams.

The hospital has now offered to contribute to the cost of a new grave cover made up of a large wooden box with two metal rings on top, which will fit down into the grave and bolt into the soil on either side.

A thick wooden board will then be laid on top and padlocked into place.

Philip Sutton, the ORH’s head of chaplaincy and patient services, said: “We have been in contact with Miss Williams, and since she raised her original concerns we have improved the information we provide to relatives about the burial arrangements.

“The provision and maintenance of the grave is the responsibility of Oxford cemetery services. We are, however, contributing to the cost of the new grave cover so that the highest standards of dignity and security are met.”

An Oxford City Council spokesman said the new cover is currently being made and will be ready in time for the next burial.

Miss Williams said she was glad the hospital and cemetery services had listened to her concerns, but she added: “After what happened, I still feel I need to be up there all day every day to make sure my son’s body is safe.”