Families in Bradford who had organs of relatives stored without their knowledge could have them returned as early next Tuesday, hospital chiefs said today.

Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's, has contacted families who fear their relatives' organs may have been removed without their knowledge.

The Trust has contacted 11 families in Bradford and outlined how it intends to return organs and tissues. The Trust's strategy must be submitted to the Retained Organs Commission (ROC) on Monday. Approval will pave the way for the Trust to begin to return organs from as early as Tuesday.

Trust chief executive David Jackson said: "Once we can demonstrate that our procedure is sympathetic to, and meets the needs of these families, we can begin the process of returning organs and tissues to them."

Mr Jackson said the wishes of families were paramount.

"We want to make sure that families have full information and an opportunity to decide freely what happens next, and then offer them help and support in making that happen in a sensitive and helpful way - from funerals to the retention of material for the wider benefit of society."

Dawn Mullen, 37, of Undercliffe, who feared that her baby daughter Joy had had organs removed following her cot death in 1986, said the process had to be carried out very carefully to prevent more upset.

Families would have to face the prospect of another funeral and the emotional and financial burden.

"Personally I wouldn't like to be one of the families who received a letter like this. I went through all the trauma when I thought my daughter's organs had been removed and I don't think I could cope with that," she said.

"If it was my child who had had organs removed I would want those organs to be buried with my daughter."

More than 300 distressed families called an emergency hotline set up in Bradford after the outcry over Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool which stored babies' organs without parental permission.

A Bradford NHS Trust spokesman said: "Steps have already been taken within this Trust to change and clarify our post-mortem consent procedures so that next-of-kin fully understand what is involved before they give consent."

Earlier this year the Trust was among the first in the country to be given the green light to start releasing information to people who had made inquiries about relatives' organs.

The ROC sanctioned this after checking that the Trust's records were accurate.