A HEARTBROKEN Dunfermline man says that his late wife was left in "agony" during her "nightmare" stay at Victoria Hospital.

Margaret Baker, from Duloch, died on July 11 at 78 just days after discovering she had inoperable cancer.

Her husband, Clive Baker, 81, says she was left in "terrible pain" after he claims unsecured bed rails led to her falling to the floor and fracturing her hip as well as sustaining a large bruise to her temple which remained visible until her death.

"It makes my blood boil, what is the money going to the NHS being spent on?" he said.

"It makes you wonder, all those nurses that come forward (to the Press), saying there are a lack of facilities and staff, I can see it, I can understand it," he said.

Margaret, who was registered blind, was admitted to the hospital on June 24, after waiting for more than 13 hours on an ambulance.

Clive says that his wife, who he would have celebrated his 60th anniversary with in December, had lost two stone in a matter of weeks and "couldn't get out of her chair or bed", though she did not want to been seen due to a previous bad experience at the Vic.

"Against her wishes, I called the doctor and he came in on the Thursday (June 23), after waiting for an ambulance she was taken to assessment ward one for scans to find the problem.

"They came back with a chest X-ray, they had found fluid on one lung, and an infection and clot on the other.

"They moved her three times during that night, I came back and she was on a drip and oxygen.

"I got a call on the Sunday morning to say she had fallen and broken her hip, she was transferred to the fracture unit, she was in terrible pain.

"She didn't know what happened but she told me she had the funniest feeling of beginning to run, then woke up on the floor, it was like the railings hadn't been put up."

Margaret was then scheduled for an operation to fix her hip, which was delayed after she tested positive for COVID, which her husband believes she caught while in hospital, and would have to be done under an epidural rather than anaesthesia due to her blood-thinning medication.

Clive was told she only had a 50 per cent chance of survival.

"The doctors said her condition had deteriorated," he said.

"There was only a 50/50 chance that she would make it, then, when more scans came back, they told me she had an enlarged liver and cancer which was inoperable and had gone to her kidneys."

The devastating diagnosis meant that hospital staff, who Clive said from then on he "couldn't fault", could only make Margaret comfortable.

"My son and grandson were then able to visit, she knew we were there, but she was in and out of sleep,

"She was just asking if she could come home, then on the Sunday (July 10) we got a call to say it would be better if we went, we sat most of the day with her, then we got the call on the Monday morning to say she had passed."

Four years ago, Margaret, who spent her career as a care support worker, contracted the flu and spent days "freezing" in the Kirkcaldy hospital, having to ask multiple nurses to bring her blankets before one was provided.

Clive, who said the experience made his wife fearful to return, faced a struggle to remove her from the facility, which he says "is not fit for purpose."

"It is a nightmare," the ex-police officer said.

"A joke, it is what it is, but they always say they will learn from their mistakes, that it won't happen again, it does.

"She was skin and bones, she wouldn't complain, maybe if I had complained four years ago she wouldn't have had that treatment, but it doesn't do well to dwell on what-ifs.

"I have my son and my grandson, they are popping in and out for company.

"It is just at night when you are used to having someone sitting beside you."

An internal investigation has meant that the family have not been given access to Margaret's death certificate, meaning that they face a wait to be able to hold a funeral.

Clive says that they had also been contacted by the police about the failings, though Police Scotland could not confirm involvement.

A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: "NHS Fife is unable to comment on matters relating to a specific patient’s care.

"We do, however, wish to extend our sincerest condolences to the family involved."

Several nurses have spoken to the Press in recent weeks about their concerns at both Victoria and Queen Margaret hospitals in Dunfermline.

One said that conditions were "beyond dangerous" in Kirkcaldy, while another claimed that staffing was at an "all-time low".