Minister orders formal review after number of ‘suspicious’ hospital deaths

A FORMAL review has been launched into a number of suspicious deaths at a hospital.

Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb announced that an inquiry is to be held into the deaths of a number of elderly patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire between 1988 and 2000.

The investigation will be led
by former bishop of Liverpool the Rt Rev James Jones, who previously chaired the Hillsborough Independent Panel into the disaster.

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Mr Jones has already begun work with the affected families who were his priority.

The investigation, which
is expected to take around two years, will review the evidence held by a number of organisations, Mr Lamb said. The terms of reference for the review will be published in the autumn, he added.

A separate review into the deaths of patients at the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust hospital between 1988 and 2000 was published last year – 10 years after it was completed.

The report, led by Professor Richard Baker of Leicester University, could not be published in full before then because of police investigations and inquests being held.

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Mr Lamb said: “The events at Gosport War Memorial hospital have caused immense distress to the families of the patients who died.

“I was deeply concerned by the findings of the Baker report and I am confident that the appointment of Bishop James Jones to chair this independent process will help answer the many questions of the families affected by these shocking events.”

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