An 83-year-old woman died in John Hunter hospital last week and an 80-year-old man this week, both suffering from hypoglycaemia which can be caused by excessive insulin.
A third resident, a 91-year-old woman, was suffering the same symptoms but was released from hospital after treatment.
Superintendent John Gralton told Jill Emberson from 1233 ABC Mornings that police believe none of the three affected residents were diabetic.
All were living at the Summitcare Wallsend facility, Sugarloaf Gardens.
The home has issued a statement saying it's cooperating fully with police and keeping residents and their families informed.
Strike Force Correa, which has been formed to investigate the deaths, must now sift through extensive medical records to work out what happened.
"Both patients were presented at John Hunter Hospital suffering symptoms of hypoglycaemia and they later died, unfortunately," Supt Gralton says.
"We were alerted to the patients by the hospital, by the doctors at the John Hunter hospital.
"The high levels of insulin in the pathology results indicate that it was out of kilter."
He explains police are treating the deaths as suspicious until they're determined otherwise.
"We're still awaiting the formal evaluation of medical evidence to determine some of the circumstances leading up to the deaths, and any involvement of other parties," he says.
"The pathology indicated high levels of insulin were present in the systems of the man and the woman who died, but the extent of criminal intent is still to be determined."
Detectives will now sift through the medical evidence to establish why the patients' insulin levels were so high and how the substance got into their bodies.
"The hard slog comes now, going through all those medical records looking at previous matters, if there are any," the Newcastle commander says.
"They'll go through all the medical records and go through that painstaking process of determining if there are any links with any other patients inside that nursing home and in fact anywhere else."
Supt Gralton says the situation is more suspicious due to none of the three patients actually being diabetic.
"I suppose it's an unusual investigation but our detectives have the skills and expertise to get to the bottom of it," he says.
"No stone will be left unturned and I can tell you I've got some very, very good detectives working very hard on this matter."
At this stage investigators don't know of links to any other nursing homes.
"We have no immediate concerns of anything else at this stage," the superintendent says.
Sydney homicide detectives have been called in to help with the investigation, and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.
You can listen to the audio of Supt Gralton from 1233 Mornings here.
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