A Deadly Cover-Up

A report found that more than 450 patients died after being given “dangerous” levels of medication. At the centre of the scandal was GP Dr Barton who prescribed strong opioid painkillers to elderly patients, most of whom never needed any!

During her 12 years at the hospital, Dr Barton signed 854 death certificates. Of the patients she treated, 94% had received opiates, with “little evidence of the three analgesia steps recommended in palliative care: non-opiate, then weak opiate, then strong opiate”, an earlier review in 2003 found.

An investigator who led part of the Gosport War Memorial Hospital inquiry in 2010 says there was enough evidence to bring criminal charges after the deaths of hundreds of patients.

Police and prosecutors

The former assistant chief constable who led the third, and largest, investigation into 94 deaths told BBC Panorama that the evidence should have gone before a court.

“I think it’s strong enough now, I think it was strong enough then, and I think there was an overriding public interest in doing so,” he said.

During the inquiries, the Crown Prosecution Service considered possible manslaughter and murder charges against the GP and certain nurses who gave the drugs.

Many of the people who died had only been admitted to recover after surgery… No pain relief was necessary!

Prosecutors later decided there was not a realistic chance of securing convictions. The former detective said he expected the families and the public to react badly. He also told prosecutors that the case would probably lead to a public inquiry and, in time, a court hearing.

Witness accounts from staff

Hampshire police later passed the case to colleagues in Kent and Essex, who reviewed the evidence to decide whether a fourth investigation was needed. BBC Panorama has examined statements given by nurses who worked at the hospital and spoke to earlier police teams.

Some said they believed diamorphine, which was given continuously through a syringe driver, shortened patients’ lives. One auxiliary nurse said “It got to the stage that every time the doctor came to the annexe, I would think to myself who’s going to die now?”

Another staff nurse said “It seemed that most patients were going on drivers even when they were not in pain.”

A different nurse said they thought the drug was used “to keep the waiting lists down.”

A different view from one former nurse

A former nurse who worked as sister on Gosport’s Daedalus Ward between 1993 and 1997 rejected the claim that the GP shortened lives on her ward.

“As far as I am concerned the doctor didn’t shorten any lives on my ward,” she said.

“They were nursed to the best of my ability and they had what every patient is entitled to, peaceful, pain-free, dignity, and I mean dignified death.”

She also said the ward felt like a “dumping ground” at one point.

“They were sent to us and we were hoping we could rehabilitate them which we tried,” she said.

“But it soon became apparent they were nursing care, and they had damn good nursing care, but they weren’t rehabilitation.”

The doctor’s response

The GP, who did not comment, was disciplined (slapped wrist) by the General Medical Council in 2010 for serious professional misconduct. She was not struck off but retired soon after.

She has said that the consultants in charge knew what she was doing and that she was trying to do her best in a part of the NHS that did not have enough resources.

She also said she was under growing and unreasonable pressure, and that the patients were too unwell for rehabilitation.