Police probe a whole lot of drug deaths in hospital after years-long wait

A girl who suspects her mom died as a result of medication she was given at a group hospital has criticised the police over the time it has taken to launch an investigation. Gillian Mackenzie’s mum, Gladys Richards, died aged 91 at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in 1998. She is one in every of numerous individuals who worry justice won’t ever be achieved.

Mrs Mackenzie, 88, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, instructed the Mirror: “It’s been 25 years since I went to the police with my concerns about the hospital. I was the first one to go to them. I don’t think I shall even be alive when this goes to court.”

More than 450 individuals had their lives shortened on the group hospital, whereas one other 200 had been “probably” equally given opioids between 1989 and 2000 with out medical justification, in keeping with a report launched in 2018.

The police investigation was launched in April 2019 following the publication of the report. It stated there was “a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening lives of a large number of patients” on the hospital.

It added there was an “institutionalised regime of prescribing and administering ‘dangerous doses’ of a hazardous combination of medication not clinically indicated or justified”.

Police investigating the deaths of a whole lot of sufferers on the hospital stated on Wednesday they’ve recognized 19 suspects.

The Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, which is managing the investigation codenamed Operation Magenta, stated they had been reviewing the data of greater than 750 sufferers.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Jerome stated: “The independent investigation into deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital is one of the largest and most complex of its nature in the history of UK policing.

“Our workforce consists of round 150 serving and retired detectives who’ve up to now assessed greater than three million pages of paperwork, together with the medical data of over 750 sufferers, and brought witness statements from greater than 1,150 particular person members of the family.”

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Mr Jerome added: “The investigation is ongoing and continues to make good progress, with 19 suspects presently recognized. The interviews beneath warning stay ongoing.

“Whilst we have never provided anyone with an estimate of how long our enquiries will last, family members can be confident we are working as quickly and thoroughly as possible to ensure Operation Magenta is the decisive police investigation into what happened at Gosport.

“Every single affected person who died is vital to us and their particular person circumstances should be reviewed in full to ensure that an evaluation to be made on their evidential power.”

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jerome said police owe it to the families to investigate each death to the same high standard. He pledged all families who want to will be told everything officers discovered about the nature of the care their relatives received.

He said: “It is these households who’re on the coronary heart of all the things we do. We stay dedicated to constructing and sustaining belief and confidence amongst them and can proceed to maintain them up to date on the progress of the investigation.”

Mrs Mackenzie insists her mother was not dying when she was admitted to the hospital for two weeks of rehabilitation after hip surgery.

She said: “My mom was cellular, strolling, and never on medication when she was discharged from Haslar Hospital and went to Gosport War Memorial. I knew that they weren’t acceptable medication for my mom.

“The drugs that they gave her were for palliative care. She was on a syringe driver for four days.”

Linda Lacey’s father Vernon Gregory died in 1988 after going into the hospital for respite care. She stated many who campaigned for the brand new probe had been now aged, including: “We just want justice done.”

Relatives of a few of those that died on the hospital have lengthy campaigned for prosecutions to be introduced over the deaths and have referred to as for a Hillsborough-model inquest.

Emma Jones, a solicitor who represents 10 households who misplaced family members between 1987 and 2001, has been calling for simply such an inquiry.

She stated: “The families we represent will be extremely concerned by the disclosure from police that 19 suspects have been identified.

“The households have by no means been happy that they’ve had the solutions wanted concerning the deaths of their family members and that’s the reason they’ve been campaigning for a few years now for inquests into their deaths.”

Ms Jones added: “The truth this police investigation, which has taken place so a few years later, has managed to search out enough proof to determine 19 suspects demonstrates how substandard the earlier investigations had been, not solely by the police but in addition by the coroner.

“It raises questions that at best the earlier investigations were ineffective, narrow and poor and at worst were potentially cover-ups by officials.

“We keep that decide led inquests, just like the Hillsborough inquests would be the solely approach to safe all of the solutions that households want.”

The 2018 inquiry, led by the former bishop of Liverpool James Jones, did not ascribe criminal or civil liability for the deaths.

Dr Jane Barton oversaw the practice of prescribing on the wards and is the only person to have faced disciplinary action.

She was found guilty of failings in her care of a dozen patients between 1996 and 1999, but she was not struck off the medical register, having retired after the findings were published.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Dr Barton’s part.

She said in a statement in 2018 that she was a hard-working physician who was doing her greatest for sufferers in a really inadequately resourced a part of the NHS.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which oversees the working of the hospital, has been approached for remark.