THE GRIEVING daughter of an elderly woman who died in a hospital investigated over the deaths of some of its patients led a protest march to Downing Street yesterday.

The mother of Ann Reeves, 88-yearold Elsie Devine, was one of 92 patients who died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Gosport, Hampshire, in the late 1990s and whose deaths police investigated.

Mrs Reeves, of the Gosport War Memorial Hospital Action Group, and her daughter Bridget headed a 30- strong march from the Law Courts in Aldwych to Downing Street, where they handed in a petition calling for tighter rules governing the care of the elderly, known as “Elsie’s Law”.

The law would mean doctors would have to consult more widely before instigating “end of life” care.

An inquest into the deaths found that Dr Jane Barton prescribed painkilling drugs, which contributed to the deaths of five patients, at the hospital during that time.

Earlier this year, the General Medical Council (GMC) also ruled Dr Barton, who has since retired, was guilty of multiple instances of professional misconduct relating to 12 patients, but she was not struck off.

Mrs Reeves said: “My mother was not dying.

“Dr Barton administered drugs without justification or logic.”

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Dr Barton.