A WIDOW who slammed the "absolutely horrific" treatment her dying husband received in the Victoria Hospital wants Holyrood help to force change.

Trish Nolan said there was "complete and utter negligence" in the care of her husband, John, who taught German at St Columba's High School in Dunfermline for 35 years.

And she has the backing of Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, who wants to hear from others who have had bad experiences at the Kirkcaldy hospital.

The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP told the Press: “This was a horrendous case. Nobody should have to go through what Mr Nolan and his family experienced.

"I have met with Mrs Nolan and NHS Fife and am happy to meet the health minister, Humza Yousaf, to discuss the matter.

“I am also happy to be contacted by other families who have had similar experiences and meet with them so that their concerns can be raised.”

Trish said that, since first telling her story in the Press in August, she had been inundated with friends, family and even strangers coming forward to share their own ordeals at the Vic.

She stated: "I'm always fair. When I think I've had good service, I will thank them and do it sincerely.

"But when bad things happen you should speak out to ensure problems can be addressed and they don't happen again.

"I've spoken out about the very poor care John received, myself and Murdo Fraser met Siobhan McIlroy (NHS Fife's head of patient experience) in October and yet it's still happening.

"It's not a one-off. You can see it in the stories you keep covering in the Press and from the people I've spoken to who have had bad experiences there, some worse than John with some terrifying mistakes made.

"And it's not down to a shortage of staff. Everything that went wrong for John, every single thing, was nothing to do with staffing, it was attitude, people not speaking to each other and keeping others informed.

"I felt I had to be the nurse when all I wanted was to be the carer and the wife."

John was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer in June 2020 and was cared for at home until the point where he had to go into hospital on May 8 this year.

Trish told the Press previously that for more than four hours, staff ignored her pleas for help as he became increasingly unwell.

She had said: "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.

"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."

Trish claimed at least three protocols were broken in John’s case.

Staff should stay with the patient and observe medication being taken, she claimed this wasn't done and claimed staff didn't seem concerned about a risk of overdose or that tablets and medication were left to "accumulate" on his bedside table and bed.

She said the buzzer to be used by a patient to call for help was, despite requests from the family, placed outwith John's reach repeatedly and a fundamental issue was the delay in calling for palliative care.

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

This week, Trish said: "Murdo Fraser said the shadow health minister (Sandesh Gulhane), who is a doctor, is keen to meet us in Holyrood to share these experiences and present them collectively to NHS Fife.

"I know several people personally who are living with the same trauma over lost loved ones who died needlessly in pain, discomfort and with a complete absence of dignity or compassion.

"Change won’t happen unless people come together and speak up. Ultimately, something is wrong and it needs to be fixed."

NHS Fife are unable to comment on the care of individual patients for reasons of confidentiality.