The burns she sustained were said to be “extreme”.Concerns over the nurse’s conduct were raised at the beginning of this year by another nurse who worked in the unit. The other patients who died were a 69-year-old woman and a middle aged man.Relatives of the dead 15-year-old, Patricia Dryden, from Blyth, said yesterday they had “been through hell” but were now facing another nightmare asking themselves could Patricia have lived?Patricia’s uncle, John Dryden, confirmed police had told the family they were investigating “irregularities in procedures in the intensive care unit”. She had been suspended for a month after an internal inquiry questioned her professional conduct relating to four deaths in the ITU between 1991 and 1995.The police said yesterday they would interview the nurse this week. A force spokeswoman said relatives of three patients were being contacted, but one of the patients has yet to be identified.A hospital spokeswoman said the two girls who died had been moved to the adult unit “because of the nature of their injuries”. All four patients who died had at one time been under the care of the nurse now under investigation. Northumbria police, called in by the coroner to conduct a full inquiry, are examining hospital records going back to 1991.
Jim Cousins, MP for Newcastle Central, yesterday called for a public inquiry into the management of the intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. “We are talking about extremely grave events which have occurred over a long period of time,” he said.He added that if matters now involved the criminal law, why was it left to the coroner’s office to bring in the police? “Why did the hospital trust not raise the alarm sooner if they had suspicions?” he asked.Northumbria police confirmed a team of 12 detectives is investigating the deaths.The nurse, in her late 30s, worked at the Royal Victoria Infirmary for 17 years before being sacked at a full disciplinary hearing last month.

Although it has no formal powers, it is an influential body, which says the design is inappropriate for the area.. It was designed by the American architects Obata and Kassabaum and, according to the estate, it would “echo” the Georgian and Regency terraces of Belgravia.The plans, which will be submitted to Westminster City Council this week, were also criticised by the Royal Fine Art Commission, which reviews prominent architectural plans. Police are investigating the deaths of four patients, including two girls aged 12 and 15, in the adult intensive care ward of a Newcastle upon Tyne hospital following the dismissal of a nurse sacked for “gross misconduct”. We’ve addressed a number of their concerns, and I would hope at the end of the day they will be happy.”The new building would replace Hobart House in Grosvenor Place, which was formerly the headquarters of British Coal. The designers had set the top storey back to make it more discreet, and the original full-height windows had been reduced in size to limit the view. Further talks were expected to take place with representatives of Prince Charles and Buckingham Palace.Mr de Broekert said: “The Duke of Westminster has personally taken an interest in this, and the last thing we would want to do is anything regarded as obtrusive or unfriendly to the palace. We wouldn’t want to do that to any neighbour.”He added: “Buckingham Palace always has concerns in that location about security and privacy, and they will want to look at the designs carefully to see we haven’t worsened the impact…

A pair of standard binoculars would have afforded any curious onlooker a detailed view.Dick de Broekert, the estate’s development director, said it had taken measures to lessen any impact on the palace. REBECCA FOWLER

It is a neighbourly dispute being waged over the most regal garden fence in the country. On the other is Buckingham Palace, expressing concern that it will be intrusive and overlook the royal home.
The Grosvenor Estate, which manages the duke’s property interests, is preparing to unveil plans for a development, including 20,000 sq ft of offices, and space for restaurants and shops.However, the Royal Family was worried the design would encourage snooping, when they were shown plans for the six-storey building, which included large glass windows that overlooked the palace. On one side is the Duke of Westminster’s estate, planning a limestone and glass edifice of offices and shops. Airbus’s American rival Boeing is also drawing up plans for a new large aircraft, but the European version will be a completely new aircraft.British Aerospace, which has built the wings for all Airbus aircraft so far, would be the favourite to provide wings for the new large aircraft.An Airbus spokesman said yesterday: “We might be able to launch the project within the next two years and have the first passenger flight by 2003.”We reckon airlines are going to need more than 1,300 aircraft of 500 seats or more over the next 20 years and we would hope to produce about half of them.”. The consortium Airbus Industrie, in which British Aerospace has a 20 per cent stake, is planning to build up to 650 of the double-decker aircraft over the next 20 years if there is enough interest from airlines.
The Toulouse-based company signalled its intentions yesterday by creating a large aircraft division to accelerate its work on the project, known as the A3XX.