NHS Fife has apologised over the care of a dying cancer patient after being criticised by a medical watchdog.
The man’s widow, who asked to remain anonymous, said her 54-year-old husband was left in severe pain.
She said the father-of-two was also told while being treated at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy he would not be resuscitated because his illness was terminal.
She lodged six complaints, of which five were upheld by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). Among the SPSO’s 10 recommendations was an instruction that NHS Fife should issue a written apology.
Medical staff failed to notice any abnormalities in a chest X-ray taken in January 2011, five months before he died. Two months later he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer which had spread to the extent it was inoperable.
While accepting an earlier diagnosis would not have saved her husband’s life, the woman described the treatment he received as “diabolical”.
She said: “My husband went from being a perfectly healthy man to being dead in less than six months.
“At the end of the day I have never said that my husband would not have died regardless, but it was what he went through. He was left for nearly three days in ward 14, which is an admissions ward.
“He was in uncontrolled pain. Notes from accident and emergency said his pain was uncontrolled and they completely ignored that. They did not provide personal care.
“I’ve spent 19 months fighting this and trying to stop what happened to him happening to other people.”
The SPSO’s report says Mr C’s X-ray results were “misreported” and called for a review to ensure the same had not happened to other X-ray reports.
NHS Fife was told to review the process of reporting on X-rays and also the policy for ordering positron emission tomography (PET) scans the scan that led to the diagnosis of Mr C’s cancer in March 2011.
“The respiratory physician was critical that the January X-ray was reported as normal, as there was what he felt to be ‘unequivocal’, if fairly subtle, indications of abnormality on the X-ray,” the SPCO said.
“The nursing adviser was… critical of the lack of assessment, monitoring and review of Mr C’s pain, the standard of the notes and the lack of personal care, including washing, provided to him.”
Caroline Inwood, director of nursing for NHS Fife’s operational division, said: “NHS Fife has written to the family member concerned to apologise.
“A comprehensive action plan has been developed and implemented to address the recommendations made by the ombudsman.”