Gosport Hospital Scandal Uncovered

United by a scandal that robbed them of their loved ones,

today dozens of families gathered to hear what really happened

at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

They now know 456 patients died from overdoses

of the medical equivalent of heroin.

Most were only suffering minor ailments and should have recovered.

My mother was overdosed and died.

Anne Reeves' mother Elsie Devine was given a cocktail of drugs,

including diamorphine, for a minor kidney infection.

You can make one mistake,

but you can't make hundreds.

And the amount of drugs given to my mother is despicable.

It's outrageous, it's outrageous really,

that nothing's been done in all this time,

20 years, you know, it's outrageous.

He was in for respite and he became inconvenient.

And so they gave him diamorphine?

Yes, a diamorphine driver in his neck.

And how long did he last after that?

A day, just a day.

The families have waited almost two decades to get this report,

but many are saying this is just the beginning.

They want criminal prosecutions for what happened

at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

The doctor at the centre of the scandal,

Jane Barton, was disciplined for professional misconduct but was never struck off.

She was responsible for the practice of prescribing

which prevailed on the wards at the hospital in Gosport.

Some nurses did raise the alarm but

were ignored and continued to administer the drugs.

Those concerns were dismissed by the hospital management

and consultants were aware the drugs were being prescribed

but did not stop the practice.

We tried talking to senior hospital manager at the time,

Ian Piper, but the silence that has

characterised this scandal for 20 years continues to this day.

There were consultants whom the documents show were aware of the practice.

There were the hospital management team and

when nurses in 1991 complained,

the institution did not take seriously the complaints of those nurses,

which were complaints about the use of diamorphine.

But while those responsible refused to speak,

today there was an apology from the Prime Minister.

The events at Gosport Memorial Hospital were tragic,

they are deeply troubling, and they brought unimaginable heartache to the families concerned,

but they are a matter of which we should be concerned across this house.

I'm sorry that it took so long for

the families to get the answers from the NHS.

The families' concerns have been dismissed for years but

now the grotesque truth of this vast scandal has been laid bare

and soon they may find out who

will be held to account for 456 unnecessary deaths.