Gosport hospital deaths: Police start new search Published duration 27 January Related Topics Gosport hospital deaths

image copyright PA image caption Dr Jane Barton was found guilty of serious professional misconduct in 2010 but no prosecutions were brought

Police investigating the deaths of hospital patients who were given "dangerous" levels of painkillers have carried out a new search at the site.

Officers examined Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire on Sunday.

No details have been given of the search, which is part of a new criminal investigation by Kent and Essex Police.

An inquiry found 456 patients died after being given opiate drugs at the hospital between 1987 and 2001, but no charges have ever been brought.

media caption Gosport hospital deaths: Timeline shows investigation

The new inquiry, Operation Magenta, was launched in April 2019, following three previous investigations by Hampshire Constabulary.

Assistant Chief Constable Nick Downing, who has since left the inquiry , said at the launch he believed there was "new and different material" in the case.

He said a medical panel would be set up to "prove or disprove the causational link between opioids being administered and deaths".

The weekend search was part of efforts to find any new relevant evidence, detectives told patients' relatives.

Police are due to update relatives in February on progress in the investigation.

image copyright PA image caption Relatives tried to raise concerns about the administration of medication on the hospital wards

It also found an "institutionalised regime" of prescribing and administering amounts of opiate medication that were not clinically justified.

The report said whistleblowers and families were ignored as they attempted to raise concerns about the administration of medication, which was overseen by Dr Jane Barton

Dr Barton retired after being found guilty by a medical panel of failings in her care of 12 patients at Gosport between 1996 and 1999.