Gosport War Memorial Hospital

It is indeed, especially as I had a friend who was old and ill living in that area at that time.

This has been simmering in and out of the news for some years and to my totally inexpert knowledge, it appeared very worrying from the first time I heard about it. I do not understand why it wasn't properly investigated from the time someone blew the whistle on it.

I appreciate that this particular committee could not instigate criminal charges but I do hope the police will pick the matter up and charges will follow.

It should also stop in their tracks those complaining about the new £100 charge to have independent Medical Examiners to verify causes of death in the majority of deaths where a inquest is not necessary.

Opioids on a syringe driver have their place -and it would be a pity if the publicity surrounding this case deterred doctors from relieving pain in appropriate circumstances, or caused relatives worry unnecessarily. Let us hope that a proper enquiry will stop this practice and reassure people.

There needs to be a clear protocol so everyone knows where they are.

Yes I agree Luckygirl about end of life care with opioids on a syringe driver. Used appropriately, it ensures a pain free and peaceful death. I hope this outcry, and subsequent investigation, doesn’t set back the advances in end of life care.
It’s a very emotional subject though.
These deaths took place before the “Liverpool Care Pathway” was replaced with a new, more flexible, patient and family lead version.

I hope this outcry, and subsequent investigation, doesn’t set back the advances in end of life care.

Totally agree, mh and Luckygirl

It was made clear in the report that there was a standard pain relief protocol. Then as now it was, if pain relief was necessary to first prescribe a non-opioid, if that failed move to weak opioid and only when that failed prescribe strong opioids. The practice in this hospital at the time in question was to go straight to strong opioids without the two preliminary stages. From what I have read in many cases where opioids were given to patients with no need of any pain relief.

M0nica I think you are the first person to share my horror and comment on the dubious practices being uncovered. 400-600 elderly people, not necessarily terminally ill, whose lives have been shortened? We are not talking pain relief in the final stages of cancer here.
There have clearly been cover -ups which makes me all the more suspicious.
Were these deaths expedient? And if the Dr at the centre of it was investigated and found guilty of serious professional misconduct, why was she permitted to continue working?
It is not enough to claim as she does “ none of the nurses were critical of my care of the patients in this enquiry”
That could have been your mum or dad or even any one of us!

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/20/profile-dr-jane-barton-gp-gosport-hospital-scandal-gmc-panel-2010

Dr Jane Barton

Opioids on a syringe driver have their place -and it would be a pity if the publicity surrounding this case deterred doctors from relieving pain in appropriate circumstances, or caused relatives worry unnecessarily. Let us hope that a proper enquiry will stop this practice and reassure people

And if the pain relief is unnecessary?
If the opioids are prescribed with the intention of hastening death?
This is tantamount to euthanasia.

I absolutely agree Mawbroon. I cannot see where this hospital scandal deviates from the Shipman case in anyway other than that he committed his crimes within a GP practice and these happened in a hospital.

I also do not understand why no one noticed the very high death rates in this hospital compared with their experiences in any similar hospital. Surely the Primary Care Trust should have picked it up, Especially as it was happening as the Shipman case hit the headlines. To say that this was because the causes of death given were not such as required an inquest is to avoid the issue. The death rate alone should have rung alarm bells.

Obviously the report has to be very careful what it says about intent in this gross abuse of medication protocols and we, too, need to be careful of overstepping what we can say without the crossing the line between libel and fair interpretation, but I am glad to see that the case has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.

I am also horrified that consultants treating patients in the hospital knew these strong pain killers were being administered and did nothing about it. I do not think they can shed their responsibility for what happened in Gosport and should, quite literally, be named and shamed.

What I found so depressing was the long list yet again of the organisations/institutions that failed the patients and their families. As well as the hospital ( apparently some nurses complained in the late 80s and were ignored) Hampshire Police and the CPS ( again) the Coronial Service, the GMC are all part of the problem. Btw I don’t think it’s been referred to the CPS yet - they are apparently ‘considering ‘ the report but it will be for the police to decide whether to refer after their investigations.There are suggestions that maybe Hampshire aren’t the right force to do the investigation given they are part of the problem

I also agree that we do not want to be 'euthanased' where there is a reasonable chance that we might make a recovery. The points made by M0nica and Maw Broon are very pertinent.

maryliza I think referring a case to the police and CPS for consideration is the standard procedure, because until they have examined the evidence they cannot make a decision on whether or not to prosecute. Sometimes, even when it is clear what has happened, the evidence for the crime is not strong enough to put before a jury.

The MP for Eastbourne speaking on Breakfast.
"These people's lives weren't shortened, they were killed
Thank god there's someone out there telling it like it is.

I am perplexed that so few of us seem to be up in arms (so to speak) about this breaking story. Perhaps some GNetters still have the image of nonagenarian or older patients with terminal illnesses or no quality of life being helped to an “easy death”
Consider this though,
One patient was 73 and ostensibly convalescing from a broken arm.
Hands up who are round about that age or older and may have had a kneehip/shoulder/collar bone issue necessitating a stay in hospital?
There but for the grace of God, I fear.....
Craving your indulgence for a cut n paste job (but I have left it to the end so feel free to ignore)

The enormity of what happened at Gosport War Memorial Hospital is almost impossible to comprehend. Hundreds of elderly patients who were admitted for treatment, mostly for non-life-threatening illnesses, were administered fatal doses of diamorphine and other inappropriate drugs. For some 10 years after nurses on the geriatric ward in 1991 had raised concerns about the medical practices being adopted by clinicians, nothing was done to stop it
When the relatives of patients questioned why their loved ones had been given morphine when they were not suffering any pain they were ignored. Only when prescribing rules were tightened up after the conviction in 2001 of Harold Shipman, the GP who killed hundreds of his patients, did the practice end
Even though newspapers began reporting the suspicions about Gosport at around the same time, it has taken another 18 years for the truth to come out after a panel chaired by James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool, was given access to all the hospital records. What they found was that 465 patients died where opioids had been given without appropriate clinical justification, and a further 200 early deaths may have taken place but records were incomplete.

Dr Barton was complaining she had so many patients. If she had allowed them to recover slowly and go home the admission rate would be slower.
I am not sure what her motivation was. Power? Or just a way of coping? Was it easier to let her continue because she was a woman and therefore thought to be less likely to be ruthless.
And the nurses who complained .... If the powers that be don't listen what do you do? Go to the Sunday Times or the Sun and risk your job?
I hope that they can find at least one case that has sufficient evidence to bring criminal proceedings.

Maw - clearly the use of opiates in patients who do not have pain or some other indication is absolutely unacceptable. But there are times when this is the right treatment and should be used. My grandmother was given this at the end of her life and it was a blessing - she weighed about 4 stone and her entire back was one huge pressure sore - she was in agony, but following the use of the syringe driven morphine she was peaceful and able to be comforted by her family.

Its use where there is no medical indication is unprofessional conduct at its worst.

Another case of organisations not being ' joined up ' everyone protecting their own interests it seems.
The full horror of this is only just emerging it has been kept from the general public.
As Maw said how many of us could have been victims whilst suffering relatively minor illness/injury.

MawBroon
Some of the more sensitive souls on GN would not like to have been in my sitting room last night watching news night.
I was, still am incensed with rage, and what's making it worse (if that's possible) is that this is going to be another Hillsborough. It will drag on so long that all these people campaigning will never see justice because they will be dead

I fully sympathise and take your point Luckygirl but just as one size does not fit all, one protocol cannot be applied across the board unless there is another motive.
We always assume doctors and nurses have their patients’ best interests at heart and a genuine sympathy, but I am beginning to fear that may be a misapprehension.

I feel sorry for the nurses who complained and were ignored at the time. The NHS had a culture that made whistleblowing very dangerous if they wished to keep their career and get a job elsewhere. I do hope that has now changed.

Indeed, the nurses not being listened to is a very worrying aspect of this case. The hospital hierarchy cannot be used as an excuse for this conduct. There were many others too who could have been aware of what was going on - the pharmacists for instance could not have failed to notice the quantities of particular drugs going to wards over which this woman had control, and signed out in her name.

I had an endoscopy at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in January 2017 and had excellent care throughout. I hope that the revelations of this truly appalling conduct do not scare anyone else referred there now.

Surely now there is legal culpability established and criminal charges should follow.

Huge sympathy to all the families affected.

Have to say this reinforces the importance of a Pals service. They may have been able to do something.