mouth.co.

uk

The Ne\

IUIRY: Relatives claim they have little confidence in 13-month investigation at hospital

ramilies pile pressurd

)np olice over deaths
cholas Brooks
reporter

families of dozens

rple who died at

ort War Memorial
ital have slammed
plice investigation

he deaths.
rkiag out for the first

ince the police probe in-

leaths was launched 13

s ago, the relatives

their cases are being

ndied so badly that
fght be dropped.
Detective Chief Super-

ent Steve Watts, leade investigation, has inno stone will be left unI

il

the inquiry.

stions about care at the

a1 first surfaced in
rith allegations that

pa-

were needlessly given

loses of powerful pain002

government inspec-

:onfirmed supervision
}te use of drugs had
[ax, and patients had
ut at risk.

Inspection led

lite being 13 months inlatest investigatlon - a

to criticism

us inquiry was cond by the Police Com; Authority as inade-

CONCEBNS about Gospon

- officers have still not

statements from fam-

War Memorial Hospital,

pictured above, sparked a
probe by government
inspectors, the
Commission lor Health
lmprovement (CHl).
Repoding in July 2002
CHI officials accepted past
faults had been put right,
but condemned the
hospital practice from lhe

[ives also fear key sec>f meilical files sent to

s were missing, meanicers could be wrongly
cl that there is no case
A.'er.

ilies have so far

re-

1 silent but now their

re has snapped.

an Mackenzie, the first

plain after the death of
other Gladys Richards
l, said: 'I have very lit-

tfidence

in what is go-

mother's notes from

hospital, saying she

only need rehabilitafor a matter of

:are

are missing.
r also aware of crucial
I evidence and eye-witrccounts from nursing

vhich have not

medical experts.

been

/ can anyone give an

opinion if they don't

Gladys Richards

Elsie Devine

know exactly what

hap-

pened?'

Marjorie Bulbeck, whose

mother Dulcie Middleton is
among the dead, added: 'We

are just going round and

round without getting anywhere. We want justice, and
must keep going.'
Ann Reeves, whose mother
Elsie Devine also died while

a patient at

Gosport, said:

'We have just had

enough.

We have been patient but we

are sick of it.
'Whether my mother died
of natural causes or not I am

entitled

to make a

formal

Dulcie Middleton

statement, but so far I haven't been given the chance.

'We know that

evidence

was not sent to the experts if we don't speak up now

they will just say

closed" and that

will

"case
be it.'

Ian Wilson, whose father

died in 1998, added: 'They
just want to brush it under
the carpet - they have to take
our statements because if
they don't know the facts
how can they act properly?'
But Det Ch Supt Watts

said:

'It is not at all unusual

not to have taken statements

yet - information is only re-

corded when

it is

case might need

late'1990s.

clear the

to go before

a court. There is no guaranwill be interviewed.

'This is a full investigation

tee they

and we want to be absolutely

sure we get it right.
'Evidence has been sent to

experts, who are very, very

busy people - it may seem to
be dragging on but you have
to proceed with painstaking
detail.' He insisted all available medical information had

been sent to the experts

checking the files.

COMMENT O Page 6
nic ho lns. br o o k s @t henew

s. c o. u

Strong painkillers and

sedatives were given out in
excessive doses, and the
use of such drugs was
poorly monitored,
inspectors found. They
also reported that drugs
were given out without a
full assessment of patient
needs.

lnspectors concluded
that they were 'unable to
confirm whether any
patients died as a direct
result, but can confirm that
patients weie regularly put
at risk.'