A lawyer fighting for grieving families caught up in a hospital scandal warned it could be one of the biggest in the NHS.
In 2018, a panel concluded 456 people died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, Hants, after being given opiates – powerful painkillers – inappropriately between 1987 and 2001.
But it is feared the true toll could be much higher.
Lawyer Emma Jones will appear at the High Court tomorrow in her bid to get a Hillsborough-style inquest.
She said: “This could be one of the biggest scandals in NHS history.” She added it may be worse than Stafford Hospital, where hundreds died from abuse and neglect up to 2008.
Last month, police revealed they were probing 19 Gosport suspects and reviewing the records of more than 750 patients as part of Operation Magenta, which was launched in 2019.
Ms Jones, who worked on the Stafford case, is now demanding a judge-led inquest and a public inquiry to get to the truth.
The partner at law firm Leigh Day added: “The Infected Blood scandal has been described as the worst NHS tragedy in history.
"Who knows what might be said about Gosport if we were to get a public inquiry.”
In the blood case, more than 3,000 died after getting HIV or hepatitis C in NHS treatments during the 1970s and 80s.
In the Gosport case, the panel report did not ascribe criminal or civil liability for the deaths.
Ms Jones says arrests as part of Operation Magenta suggests failures in relation to the three previous police probes.
Today’s High Court case aims to have three previous inquests into Gosport victims quashed in the hope they can be reassessed as part of a larger inquest.
Dad needed paracetamol and rest...they injected him with morphine
The family of a former Royal Navy Petty Officer who died at the hospital in Gosport have joined the call for a Hillsborough-style inquest.
Robert Wilson, 74, died in 1998 after he was sent to Gosport for recuperation for a broken arm.His was one of 10 inquests heard together by a jury in 2009, which found Robert and two others died after getting inappropriate medication.
Robert had lived in Portsmouth and Gosport, Hants, and had six children with wife Molly.
His son Robert Logan, 72, said his father fell and went to Queen Alexandria Hospital where he got paracetamol.
He said that all he needed was rest at Gosport but was instead injected with morphine, adding: “Within two days he was dead.
”The family had accepted Gosport’s explanation that their dad had died suddenly. But later they became suspicious and discovered families who had similar experiences.
Robert said: “After many years we got an inquest. They were not allowed to give an unlawful killing verdict which is why we want his inquest quashed in the hope we can get a judge-led, Hillsborough-style inquest.
"We want people to be held accountable."
Concerns and grim litany of care fails
1991: Concerns raised by medics over Gosport War Memorial Hospital about the use of drugs with syringe drivers and prescribing of drugs, in particular diamorphine.
1998: Gladys Richards dies after going in to Gosport for rehabilitation following a hip operation. Family report concerns about her treatment to the police and coroner.
2001: Three more families go to police and two more cases were reported to the NHS ombudsman.
2002: The Commission for Health Improvement criticised Portsmouth Healthcare NHS Trust, which ran the hospital, for excessive use of pain relief and sedative drugs.
February 2005: Hampshire Police pass files of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service about the deaths of elderly patients.
December 2006: Hampshire Police announce no one will face prosecution over the deaths of patients at the hospital after a four-year inquiry.
April 2009: An inquest jury rules drugs given to five elderly people at the hospital contributed to their deaths.
January 2010: The General Medical Council finds Dr Jane Barton guilty of serious professional misconduct by a Fitness to Practise panel. Instead of being struck off she was given a list of 11 conditions relating to her practice, including not being able to administer opiates by injection.
March: Dr Barton retires from medical practice.
August: The CPS announces no criminal charges are to be brought against her.
September: Ann Reeves, the daughter of 88-year-old Elsie Devine, leads a protest march to Downing Street.
2013: A coroner rules that medication given to Mrs Richards contributed “more than insignificantly” to her death.
2014: An independent investigation into more than 90 deaths at the hospital is launched.
2016: The inquiry is extended and its publication date is put back to 2018.
2018: The inquiry, led by former bishop of Liverpool James Jones, said there was “a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening lives of a large number of patients”
at the hospital. It did not ascribe criminal or civil liability for the deaths.
2019: Operation Magenta is launched by Kent Police.
2023: Operation Magenta staff have identified 19 suspects and are reviewing the records of more than 750 patients.
