No effort to trace horror-hit families

CAMPAIGNER Elsie Devine’s granddaughter Bridget Reeves speaks out

NO efforts are being made to trace the families of almost 300 newly discovered victims of the Gosport scandal, the Mirror can reveal.

Instead, the Department for Health has set up a helpline and is waiting for relatives to “come forward”. It means they may never learn the shocking truth of how their loved ones’ lives ended early “without medical justification”.

Families of other victims said it was “outrageous” and called on the NHS to find as many relatives as possible.

Out of 456 victims identified by the Gosport Independent Panel, just 163 families have been in touch with investigators.

It leaves 293 victims whose identities are known after the panel uncovered their medical records.

Another 200 victims “probably” died in the same way but their medical notes cannot be found.

Victims included Arthur Cunningham, 79, who died in 1998, five days after being admitted with bed sores and frail Elsie Devine, 88, who died after being pinned down by four nurses and injected with a large, inappropriate dose of opioids.

Gillian Wilson, 73, whose husband Robert died at Gosport War Memorial, said: “It’s terrible so

many people haven’t been spoken to and haven’t been involved in the inquiry. They should go through their records and find every person who died in suspicious circumstances. It’s outrageous.”

Ex-naval officer Robert Wilson, 74, broke his arm in a fall after being startled by a dog. After three weeks in a hospital he was transferred to Gosport for rehab. But he was wrongly assessed as a “terminal case” because he had liver disease. Within a few hours of arriving at the hospital he was given powerful opiates and died four days later.

His son Iain told an inquest: “I went to give him a cuddle and he spoke his last words to me: ‘Help me son, they are killing me’.” Cindy Grant, the daughter of victim Stan Carby, said: “It is extremely important as many people as possible are identified.

“They need to be part of the investigation because they may have very strong cases which may form part of any criminal action.”

Yesterday, the Department of Health set up a helpline “for people reading about what happened at Gosport and who have concerns it may have affected loved ones”.

They may have very strong cases for a criminal action”

CINDY GRANT DAUGHTER OF VICTIM STAN CARBY