THE treatment of a dying teacher in the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy has been described as "absolutely horrific" by his widow.

Trish Nolan, 64, whose husband, John, taught German at St Columba's High School in Dunfermline for 35 years, said NHS Fife staff ignored her pleas for help repeatedly as he became increasingly unwell.

He was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer in June 2020 and his wife looked after him at home until the point he needed hospital treatment on May 8.

Trish told the Press: "What happened after we arrived at admissions unit one was the most disturbing thing I've ever experienced, and I've experienced his death since then.

"They put him on a trolley in a sitting room and never came near him for four-and-a-half hours to assess or see how ill he was.

"It's the highest level of pain I'd ever seen him in but I couldn't get a qualified member of staff to give him any pain relief.

"I kept saying, 'He's really ill, I need you in here now', but kept getting the same benign response: 'He's not a priority' and 'We'll get to him'.

"He almost died.

"I was sure he had sepsis. He'd had it in 2019 so I knew the signs and he kept asking me to get him help.

"John was exhausted. He'd lost copious amounts of blood, he couldn't pass water, was falling out of the bed, he was delirious and talking nonsense.

"None of the signs were picked up."

When his condition deteriorated at home, the family contacted the cancer helpline and they booked John into admissions unit one, so they were expecting him.

On arrival at the Victoria, he was put in what a staff member called a 'triage room' but Trish said had a sign on the door saying 'sitting room'.

She said: "It had no sink to wash up in, no wipes and no buzzer, so how was he going to call for help? He couldn't get out of bed by that point.

"On that day, they weren't short-staffed and they weren't overrun, there were staff standing around in the corridor.

"It was just appalling treatment and complete and utter negligence."

She said she pleaded repeatedly with staff to help her husband and added: "When I couldn't take any more I hammered on something like a crash button, and only then did they come and see how ill he was.

"Then it was panic stations, like something out of Casualty as they were in such a rush to get a line into him, which they really struggled to do.

"He had to get four units of blood, they were pumping fluids into him so fast as he was completely dehydrated, his stomach was badly swollen and he did have sepsis.

"I genuinely believe if I wasn't with him they would have left him in that room and he'd have died alone on that trolley."

While his treatment elsewhere in the hospital, including the urology unit, was good, Trish was so distressed about his experience in AU1 that she pleaded with the clinical manager to make sure "no other poor soul has to suffer the way my husband did".

She was given assurances and promised feedback but said she'd heard nothing since.

John, who had three children and three grandchildren, died peacefully in the hospice at Queen Margaret Hospital on June 20. He was 72.

Trish said: "John was a truly special man. When he was diagnosed, we always knew there was going to be a poor outcome, that he wasn't going to get more than two years.

"I'm not a nurse but did everything to make his treatment as bearable as it could be, until the point I had to hand him over to the professionals.

"And I just don't have the words to describe how bad that was.

"They didn't cause my husband to die but they afforded him no dignity, they gave him no respect or care on May 8."

She continued: "I'd almost come to terms with it but to open the Press last week and read about another case in the same ward, that seems like sheer negligence – it's clear they've learned nothing at all from my husband's experience.

"They need to stop making excuses. That day it wasn't about being short-staffed, it was about attitude, about being ignored and not listened to.

"He should never have suffered like that, it was absolutely horrific.

"For me, it's not about money and it's not about litigation, it's about basic standards of care.

"I worked in the NHS, on the admin side, and we should really get away from this idea that they're all angels.

"Many of them are very good but not all and the management will do anything to cover up, that's what the health service do."

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser said: “I was very concerned to hear from Mrs Nolan about her late husband’s experience. I have offered to raise this directly with the Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.

“No-one should have to go through what this family experienced, and I hope that an apology will be forthcoming, and lessons learned to avoid anyone facing a repeat in the future.”

NHS Fife’s director of acute services, Claire Dobson, said: “We are unable to comment on the care of individual people for reasons of patient confidentiality, however, we would like to offer our condolences to the family on the loss of their loved one.

“There are significant pressures on healthcare services in Fife, as there is elsewhere in the country, and our staff are working extremely hard to provide patients with the highest standard of care possible at all times.”