We need to make sure that the information given is comprehensive and accurate

Dame Margaret Brazier, Retained Organ Commission

Chief Medical Officer Professor Liam Donaldson said that more than 100,000 organs were probably sitll kept at English hospitals.

A separate report in Alder Hey Children's Hospital on Merseyside found that thousands of dead children had been stripped of organs.

This often happened without the knowledge or consent of their parents.

In some cases, as organs were retrieved one by one, families held funeral after funeral to rebury them.

Thousands of people, prompted by the publicity surrounding the Alder Hey inquiry, called hospitals asking whether organs had been retained from their loved ones.

Hospitals have spent the past few weeks setting up systems to help them trace organs in their pathology departments.

They must now quickly produce a full report, after carrying out a thorough search for "organs which may have been overlooked".

Few weeks' delay

Eight regional task forces will check these reports, make further inspections, then give the go-ahead for organs to be returned to families.

Families may be informed about retained tissues within the next few weeks.

Dr Dick van Velzen was at the centre of the Alder Hey scandal

Professor Margaret Brazier, chairman of the commission, said: "I recognise that the time it will take to do this will mean that there will be some further delay before people get the information they want.

"I am very sorry if this causes distress but we need to make sure that the information given is comprehensive and accurate.

" I am sure that failure to get this right would cause even greater distress.

"The commission hopes that information will start to go out from some trusts within the next few weeks although this will depend upon the progress of the checks and will vary from trust to trust."