{"id":12235,"date":"2019-04-03T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/?p=12235"},"modified":"2019-04-03T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T12:31:12","slug":"four-arrested-on-suspicion-of-mistreating-stroke-victims-in-blackpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/four-arrested-on-suspicion-of-mistreating-stroke-victims-in-blackpool\/","title":{"rendered":"Four arrested on suspicion of mistreating stroke victims in Blackpool"},"content":{"rendered":"

A further four healthcare professionals have been arrested on suspicion\u00a0 of mistreating stroke victims at a hospital in Blackpool. The suspects were detained by Lancashire police on suspicion of \u201cadministering any poison or noxious thing\u201d with intent to injure patients.<\/p>\n

The total number of people who have been arrested in the investigation is seven. Three nurses were arrested in November and December last year, they have been released but remain under investigation.\u00a0 The four who have just been arrested are a man and three women, were suspended by the hospital since December.<\/p>\n

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In January, detectives confirmed a murder investigation was in process following the death of a woman in her 70s, Valerie Knealeon, the stroke unit in November. A post mortem examination of Ms Kneale’s death found an injury which police said was suspicious. It is not yet clear how many patients may have been affected but police have carried out a number of postmortem examinations as part of their investigation.<\/p>\n

DCI Jill Johnston of Lancashire police said:<\/strong> \u201cOur investigation into allegations of mistreatment and neglect of patients at Blackpool Victoria hospital is very much ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand further arrests could be concerning, but I would like to reassure people we have a dedicated team of detectives working on this investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur priority and the priority of Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust is to ensure the safety of patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the number of arrests and the nature of the allegations, it remains a complex and sensitive inquiry.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No timescale has been set for the investigation.<\/p>\n

DCI Jill Johnston of Lancashire police added: <\/strong>\u201cA number of postmortem examinations have taken place in connection with our investigation and we are supporting those families who have had loved ones identified as potentially being involved,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are being kept fully updated and supported throughout the process by specially trained officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working closely with the Trust as well as HM coroner for Blackpool and Fylde as part of the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendy Swift, the chief executive of the trust, said:<\/strong> \u201cWe can confirm four further healthcare professionals who were suspended last year following allegations of mistreatment against patients on the stroke unit have now been arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take all allegations of this type extremely seriously and when the concerns were raised last year about the individuals, they were immediately suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trust contacted police as soon the allegations were made and we are continuing to work with them and cooperating fully with their investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to reassure our patients that all necessary actions are being taken. The hospital remains a safe and caring environment for patients and the provision of services will continue as usual.\u2019\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A further four healthcare professionals have been arrested on suspicion\u00a0 of mistreating stroke victims at a hospital in Blackpool. The suspects were detained by Lancashire police on suspicion of \u201cadministering any poison or noxious thing\u201d with intent to injure patients. The total number of people who have been arrested in the investigation is seven. Three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":12237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,5],"tags":[982,981,980,983],"class_list":["post-12235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-uk-news","tag-blackpool-hospital","tag-four-arrested-on-suspicion-of-mistreating-stroke-victims","tag-four-arrested-on-suspicion-of-mistreating-stroke-victims-in-blackpool","tag-four-healthcare-professionals-arrested"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12238,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12235\/revisions\/12238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}