My grandmother’s life was shortened at Gosport War Memorial Hospital - by the very people who were supposed to be looking after her.

She was in Gosport for respite care, for 6 weeks. If we knew what would happen to her there, we never would have left her in that hospital. Our family visited her every day and we thought she was in the best hands.

After she had been there four weeks, we received a call from my uncle to say the hospital had informed him that gran had 36 hours to live. He was shaken, as he had only seen her the day before, kissed her good night and told her he would see her tomorrow. Sandra, her daughter in law, had spent the afternoon with her, drying her hair that had just been washed and making sure gran signed her pension book.

We didn’t know at that time, but by this point staff had applied a fentanyl patch on her back. My gran had never had as much as a paracetamol before; she was never in pain and did not have cancer. This patch, when it reaches full strength, at 17 to 23 hours, is equivalent of 135g of morphine. The next morning my eight stone grandmother, who was about 4ft 11in, was reported to be aggressive, and we think she was probably frightened for her life as she was now suffering from a massive overdose.

She was then held down by nursing staff and injected in the buttocks with 50mg of an antipsychotic drug called chlorpromazine. It’s a very, very painful injection that normally starts at 10mg. Around 50 minutes later, they put a syringe driver in her back and loaded that with 40mg of diamorphine, and 40mg of midazolam. Midazolam is what they use on death row. Gran had no chance.

She wasn’t the only one. My grandmother was one of the 456 people whose lives were shortened due to being given lethal doses of painkillers without medical justification. Another 200  potentially died in the same way. 

After 20 years fighting for justice for our loved ones, the Gosport War Memorial Hospital Inquiry Panel have laid out the facts - that there was a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening the lives of a large number of patients by prescribing and administering “dangerous doses” of a hazardous combination of medication not clinically indicated or justified.

To this day there has been no response from the Attorney General with regards to criminal proceedings, in fact the only response has been that whilst he superintends the CPS and is accountable to Parliament for its work he is not intervening. I find this considerably worrying since the Panel's report exposed the incompetence of not just the Hampshire Police, but also the CPS, he should be calling for a further investigation into that at the very least.  Noting all the evidence no response from the CPS. Those leading our country should be able to support the families with the now exposure and take this straight for High Courts. Justice must prevail and those that disregarded the lives of these some 656 vulnerable patients be made accountable.

As Teresa May stated upon release of the report 

‘The events at Gosport Memorial Hospital were tragic, 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 and he raises an issue about the way in which public service often, in his terms, closes ranks.’

Yet we have been left, no support has been offered to the families to date. No legal representation, no care or support line for the now elderly relatives who heard those terrible words and learned of their loved ones catastrophic treatment that led to their death.

Please join us in calling for criminal prosecution- please help us get justice for Gosport victims.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egDGX-xx8hU&feature=youtu.be 

https://www.gofundme.com/justice-for-the-victims-of-gosport