HOSPITAL doctors in Bournemouth and Poole earned nearly £288,000 last year by signing forms to release bodies for cremation, figures reveal.

Freedom of Information requests by the Lib Dems found that nationally, doctors received nearly £15 million in payments for the forms.

The law states that before a body can be cremated, two certificates stating the cause of death have to be signed: one by the attending doctor and the other by a medic of at least five years’ standing.

The £73.50 fee for each signature is usually paid by the funeral director – so called “ash cash” – but almost all recover the cost by charging bereaved families.

Calling for an end to the practice, Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “You can’t justify taking money off grieving relatives when it involves nothing beyond most doctors’ normal working hours.”

The figures obtained show that out of the total national figure of £14.7m for cremation payments, doctors at Poole Hospital received £96,994 in 2008-9, while doctors at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals received £190,914.