Two NHS chief executives have stepped down ahead of an inquiry into deaths at a Hampshire hospital.

The inquiry relates to patient deaths at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the 1990s.

Hampshire Health Authority said Ian Piper, chief executive of Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust, and Tony Horne, chief executive of East Hampshire Primary Care Trust, had agreed to be redeployed to other duties.

A spokesman said the redeployment of the men was to "ensure that the ongoing investigation is, and is seen to be, fully independent and able to command the trust of local people."

Ian Piper has agreed to step down

On 14 September the Chief Medical Officer for England ordered an inquiry into at least nine suspicious deaths at the community hospital.

The decision followed a police investigation as well as a highly critical medical report into the over-prescription of pain-relieving and sedative drugs.

Professor Richard Baker has been called in from the University of Leicester, to lead the inquiry.

'Patients at risk'

Professor Baker, who compiled a detailed analysis of killer GP Harold Shipman's career, will investigate the trends and patterns of death at the hospital.

The medical report, by the Commission for Health Improvement, found that patients were regularly put at risk by care practices at the hospital.

However, it could not confirm whether anyone died as a result of the treatment they received at the hospital.

The hospital, a 108-bed community hospital providing outpatient services and clinics for the elderly, was at the time run by the Portsmouth Healthcare NHS Trust.

It has since adopted new procedures under its new management trusts Fareham and Gosport, and East Hampshire.