The fresh review was led by former Bishop of Liverpool James Jones.

In a statement he said it was "not for the panel to determine any criminal liability – it will be for any future judicial process to determine any blame".

Bishop Jones added: "The documents seen by the panel show that for a 12-year period a clinical assistant, Dr (Jane) Barton, was responsible for the practice of prescribing which prevailed on the wards.

"Although the consultants were not involved directly in treating patients on the wards, the medical records show that they were aware of how drugs were prescribed and administered but did not intervene to stop the practice.”

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is due to address MPs on the findings of the Gosport inquiry later.

He is due to outline the government's response at 12:30 BST.

Mr Hunt will also face questions about the previous investigations and whether charges should now be brought.

Image source, PA

The former Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, who led the review, said: "The documents reveal at Gosport War Memorial Hospital from 1989 to 2000 an institutionalised practice of the shortening of lives through prescribing and administering opioids without medical justification.

"The documents show that between February 1991 and January 1992 a number of nurses raised concerns about the prescribing specifically of diamorphine.

"Their warnings went unheeded, the opportunity to rectify the practice was lost, deaths resulted and 22 years later it became necessary to establish the panel in order to discover the truth of what happened."

The report found during 1989 and 2000 there was a “disregard for human life” and a “culture of shortening the lives” of a large number of patients.

There was an “institutionalised regime” of prescribing and administering “dangerous” amounts of a medication not clinically justified, the report added.

Relatives were “consistently let down” by those in authority, both medical individuals and intuitions, when they complained about the treatment of their loved ones.

The lives of at least 450 patients were shortened by the inappropriate use of powerful painkillers at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, a report has concluded.

An independent panel set up to investigate deaths at the hospital said at least another 200 patients were probably similarity affected, giving a total of around 650 people.

A long-awaited report into a series of suspicious deaths at a hospital has been published.

The Gosport Independent Panel presented the findings of its investigation, first launched in 2014, with relatives of those who died demanding tough action.

The inquiry was established to address concerns about the deaths of a number of elderly patients at the hospital in Hampshire between 1988 and 2000.

It has been led by the former bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, who previously chaired the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

Prior to the publication at 11:35 BST, the panel said it would not disclose the total number of deaths discussed in the report, but Bishop Jones previously urged families with concerns over the treatment of their deceased relatives in the 1980s and early 2000s to come forward.

His team had been due to return its findings last December, but the deadline was extended as more families came forward and the volume of material being reviewed increased.

As well as speaking to more than 100 families and analysing about 800 death certificates, the panel also analysed documents from the police, coroners, the NHS and other organisations before writing its report.

Family tributes to remember those who died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital have been placed outside Portsmouth Cathedral.

Gladys Richards died at the hospital in 1998.

Her' daughter Gillian McKenzie was the first relative to approach the police about a death at the hospital in 1998.

She said she hoped there would be "enough pressure" for criminal proceedings to commence following the report findings.

"There has to be justice and somebody has to be answerable," she said.

A previous investigation by the Department of Health found that, from 1988 - 2000, the use of powerful painkilling drugs, including morphine and diamorphine, had "almost certainly" shortened the lives of some patients.

Police previously investigated the deaths of 92 patients at the hospital

No one has ever been charged with a criminal offence.

The only person to face disciplinary action was Dr Jane Barton, who was found guilty of failings in her care of 12 patients at the hospital between 1996 and 1999.

Families of hundreds of people who died at a scandal-hit hospital hope a report published later could end a decades-long wait for the truth.

The report follows several inquiries into the prescribing of sedatives at Gosport War Memorial Hospital.

A fresh review,led by former Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, spoke to more than 100 families and analysed 800 death certificates.

Relatives said they hoped it would end their "harrowing" wait for answers.

The report is due to be published at 11:35 BST.

Image source, BBC/PA/Reeves Family