Dear friends 
So  sorry for the late update our lives have been in turmoil with the media and the delivering of the petition to Number 10 on 3rd October which we are waiting for feed back from Theresa May  
I cannot thank you all enough and could hug every single one of you for standing with us in what we believe the absolute abuse of humanity whilst administering opiates to vulnerable patients without justification or knowledge.. we must stop this as we know conversations don't happen and a signed consent form must be put in place which we tried to do in 2010 through Elsie’s Law.

Please continue to share and encourage others to sign as this is not over by a long way.. Justice must be done for all those vulnerable elderly who had no idea of their fate nor did their relatives which we believe is going on all over the country with further conversation form Bishop Jones who said at the meeting that he has been contacted by many families outside of this Inquiry with similar fears. 

At the meeting on the 16th October led by the Department of Health we heard from William Vineall (Director DOH), Olivia Pinkney (Hampshire Constabulary) and Nick Downing (ACC in charge of the next stage of the process).  

We heard the numbers are rising since the report and they had to achieve a larger venue with families traveling far and wide, there are now another 100+ families that have come forward since the report. I cannot begin to express what everyone is going through who are caught up in this abhorrent coverup through no fault of their own. We all thought things would move forward pretty quickly after their 4 year closed door  inquiry under the Department of Health at a cost of £M16 and still rising, but it appears they are still on the back foot.
We all heard ACC Nick Downing laying out his plans after waiting 4 months to hear a voice,  it was devastating for the families and there was much anger in the room given this is allegedly a Police investigation into the people who are responsible, this is not systematic failings which we know that is the route they want to take. This immoral tragedy amounts to a minimum 756 deaths of vulnerable elderly who were given opiates without justification or logic causing death since 1989-2001. The Trust had every opportunity to stop this practice in 1989 but ignored the whistleblowers even with the intervention of the RCN who the nurses turned too for help. The Department of Health had every opportunity 1998 to suspend Dr Jane Barton until the Police investigations where complete into an allege unlawful killing of another patient, but they never informed anyone only intent in covering this up, even down to withholding the Prof Baker Report from the families for 10 years. 

 The terms of reference presented were that DS Nick Downing will be completing an assessment not an investigation

 1.       To consider the conclusions and recommendations from the Gosport Independent Panel

2.       To consider the investigations undertaken by Hampshire Constabulary with reference to all existing material including the independent panel’s database. 

3.       This will include the scoping for any criminal offences that may be apparent within the Hampshire Constabulary investigations and the findings of the Independent Panel. This will include homicide (individual & corporately) as well as Health and Safety legislation and any other relevant legislation

4.       The Easter Region will undertake an assessment of any new allegations made in relation to the deaths at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital within the time period 1987-2001

 At this stage we have been told this assessment period could take 6-12 months with the following outcomes..we know his plan is 12 months and beyond but transparency is not a priority given the families also will not be involved in any of their meetings with the stake holders.

1.       That the assessment identifies significant gaps in the material that has been obtained and that further specific work is required

2.       That the assessment process identifies that further investigation is required to develop a case for consideration for prosecution

3.       That no further police action can be taken but recommendations made for other stakeholders to take into consideration

4.       That no further police action is appropriate.

In addition to this that wasn’t shared with the families Nick Downing is forming a gold panel which will be an advisory panel to him, who this will be made up with we don’t know but I am grateful to a friend of the Mid Staffordshire inquiry for letting us know that she was approached but has declined.

 Please continue to sign and look for our next update which will be a protest to ensure a more reasonable assessment timeframe and confirmation of an investigation. 

With much hope 

Bridget & The Families