Drug case told of woman's decline

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The daughter of an elderly patient wept as she described how her mother looked "so poorly" after treatment by a doctor accused of overprescribing painkillers.

Dr Jane Barton is accused of serious professional misconduct in treating 12 patients at Hampshire's Gosport War Memorial Hospital (GWMH) in the 1990s.

The General Medical Council hearing follows an inquest which found drugs were a factor in five patients' deaths.

Marilyn Jackson said her mother Alice Wilkie had "declined" at the GWMH.

Mrs Wilkie, an 81-year-old dementia sufferer, was admitted to the hospital in August 1998, the GMC fitness to practise hearing heard.

Mrs Jackson, 58, said she understood that her mother had been admitted for rehabilitation and "replacement", which means assessment for a move to a suitable home.

She ignored me and my daughters completely, walked round to the other side of my mum's bed, looked over it and said, 'won't take long now' Marilyn Jackon's account to the GMC

She told the hearing her mother had been responding "very well" to treatment for a urinary tract infection at the nearby Queen Alexandra Hospital, but began to decline within days of arriving at GWMH.

On one occasion, Mrs Jackson said ward manager and senior nursing staff member Philip Beed had told her that her mother's condition was deteriorating.

"He just said that he did not think that my mum would get better - I probably could see that she was going to die in there.

"It was quite a shock when you only think that she is going to be 'replaced', we were all really in a bit of shock," she explained to the panel.

Mrs Jackson told the hearing that her mother died on 21 August 1998, hours after a morning visit to her bedside from Dr Barton.

"Dr Barton never said, 'good morning I am Dr Barton', we did not know who she was, she ignored me and my daughters completely, walked round to the other side of my mum's bed, looked over it and said, 'won't take long now', turned round and walked back out."

Police investigation

Her mother was administered powerful painkillers via a syringe driver without the consent of the family, Mrs Jackson added.

In April, a jury inquest at Portsmouth Coroner's Court decided that in the cases of GWMH patients Robert Wilson, 74, Geoffrey Packman, 66, and Elsie Devine, 88, the use of painkillers had been inappropriate for their condition.

Arthur Cunningham, 79, and Elsie Lavender, 83, were prescribed medication appropriate for their condition but in doses which contributed to their deaths, jurors found.

Police have carried out investigations into the treatment of 92 patients at the hospital since 1998, although no prosecutions have ever been brought.

The hearing previously heard how Dr Barton wrote prescriptions for drugs, including diamorphine, which allowed nursing staff to massively increase the dosage if they saw fit.

She has already admitted the dose range specified for 10 patients was too wide.

Dr Barton is also accused of "terribly inadequate" note-taking and failing to explain why she had given patients certain drugs.

The hearing is expected to last 11 weeks.