A partially-blind, wheelchair-bound pensioner was “lost” by Fife hospital staff, sparking a full-scale search by police.
A breakdown in communication between porters and the Scottish Ambulance Service was blamed for the blunder, which happened just hours after 71-year-old Peter Chalmers McKinlay underwent eye surgery.
The retired Fife Council social work driver was finally found “parked” out of sight of the reception desk at the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
Ambulance crews, sent to take him back to Cupar, had failed to spot him. His frantic wife Davina had already received a call from the hospital authorities to say police with search dogs were about to begin an emergency hunt.
Mrs McKinlay told The Courier she had been “worried sick” and wants an inquiry into Thursday’s farce.
The 66-year-old, of Freuchie, said: “I was panicking. My blood pressure went through the roof.
“I knew he’d been getting fed up in hospital because he couldn’t see to read.
“So I had visions of him trying to get back up the road or trying to get a taxi.
“I feared the worst. Everything went through my mind. How can a hospital lose a patient like this?”
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Courier.