A police force investigating allegations of medical negligence at a hospital trust is believed to be looking at around 200 cases.
Sussex Police are investigating cases of patient deaths and serious injury at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton between 2015 to 2021, relating to neurosurgery and general surgery.
Claims of medical negligence were made by two consultant surgeons who lost their jobs after blowing the whistle about patient safety, The Guardian previously reported.
Police began assessing allegations in 2023 and are currently not providing details around the case numbers during the ongoing probe.
According to the BBC, the force started looking at an initial 105 cases.
A Sussex Police spokeswoman said individual cases have started to be reviewed by specialist consultant surgeons, who are independent of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Brighton hospital.
“The medical experts will report on their findings and their evaluation will be considered alongside information obtained from our police inquiries to determine whether cases will be taken forward in the investigation, and if so which ones,” the spokeswoman said.
“Those that do not currently meet a criminal threshold will be withdrawn, and this will be communicated to patients and families directly by the investigation team.”
They added the process is likely to “take some time to complete” because of the complex nature of the inquiries.
Anyone with information or concerns is urged to contact Sussex Police quoting Operation Bramber.