Twelve of the women murdered by Harold Shipman, who was found guilty on 15 counts of murder by a jury at Preston Crown Court in north-west England yesterday.
Shipman, who had a medical practice in the village of Hyde outside Manchester, was one of the most active serial killers in British history.
Shipman was found guilty of killing the 15 women patients by injecting them with diamorphine, the clinical name for heroin.
Some 136 deaths have been investigated altogether. Detectives are understood to have submitted files on 23 outstanding cases to the Crown Prosecution Service and a decision on whether to proceed will be taken in coming days.
Last night the local health authority announced that it had suspended its medical adviser. Mr David Common, chief executive of West Pennine Health Authority, said an earlier investigation by the adviser, Dr Alan Banks, into Shipman would now be re-examined.
