Gosport hospital deaths: Families '˜won't give up' in quest for justice

The Gosport Independent Panel returned their findings after a four year inquiry investigating a series of deaths at the hospital between 1988 and 2000 today at Portsmouth Cathedral.

Bishop James Jones, who led the panel, said that they had found that at least 456 patients died after being given opioids ‘without medical justification’ at Gosport War Memorial Hospital

Speaking after Bridget Reeves, whose grandmother Elsie Devine died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, said that ‘we won’t give up’ until the case is brought before a criminal court.

She said: ‘We were relieved because its been nearly 20 years and for us, throughout those years people have told us we were wrong and that we shouldn’t pursue our case any further and today to hear it from the Bishop that in fact our concerns were founded was quite extraordinary and there was an immense amount of emotion in the cathedral.

‘It is just another step really, so we’ve finally got all of it out there in the open through the report and we still need time to digest that report and hear what the government are going to do in terms of next steps. For us we want to see this in a criminal court with all of the evidence and facts laid out. We won’t give up.

‘This is the largest criminal investigation under the NHS and the largest number of deaths culpable in one hospital, unnecessary deaths. This is of national interest.’