A further 19 hospitals are to have their links with Jimmy Savile investigated.

In a written ministerial statement, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he expected reports to be delivered by next June. The hospitals will be investigated by their relevant health trusts but each investigation will be properly monitored.

They are in addition to an initial 13 inquiries into hospitals which are believed to have been visited by the disgraced television presenter. Savile is thought to have used his position to abuse vulnerable patients, many of them children.

After details first emerged about cases of alleged abuse by Savile in hospitals, three major investigations were launched at Leeds General Infirmary, Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Broadmoor Hospital.

Further investigations were then announced at ten hospitals across the country.

Liz Dux, a lawyer specialising in abuse at legal firm Slater & Gordon which is representing 72 victims, said there were concerns that inquiries into other hospitals had only just started.

She said all of the victims represented by her firm had given detailed statements to Operation Yewtree - the police investigation into sexual abuse sparked by the Savile scandal.