"This treatment of my husband"

My husband had pancreatic cancer and unfortunately Glasgow Royal Infirmary was the so called Centre of Excellence. Here as some extracts from a document my husband wrote before his death.

"Sorry there is no tea or coffee this morning because there are no cups"

"sorry there is no evening meal as it did not arrive . Neither did your fresh fruit. Ham sandwich instead."

A ancillary staff member in the radiology unit came up with a diagnosis - "your pancreas is gubbed". My husband found this particularly distressing.

Pancreatic cancer patients need to maintain weight to sustain them if they have a Whipple procedure. My husband was starved all day then only thing available was toast and jam. Not much nutrition in that.

He was also discharged over a weekend and had to go back on Monday for a procedure. This was on the basis that he would get better care at home. His consultant said he would get proper food and care, He had severe jaundice so this was a challenge for both of us although the care was better but he was in a lot of pain. He could hardly walk when he arrived back at the Royal and needed a bed urgently. He was shivering but there were no blankets.

The air conditioning did not work so patients used wet towels on their heads to keep cool.

My husband was very ill and could not manage a shower, he was left in a bed damp with sweat, unwashed and not shaved. He was very distressed about that. When my daughter summoned the doctor on call on a Sunday they asked what we wanted them to do about it. My daughter said care for my Dad. We started to take our own pillows,

We experienced outright unprovoked aggression from several members of staff. Consultants were evasive and each one of three told a different story. A doctor at another hospital tried to get information for us , This took all day and was a limited success.

 A pet scan revealed a spread so his Whipple procedure got cancelled. This was another shambles. Endless delays with the pet scan as we given misleading information about being in the system. We had to chase this up and this provoked more staff aggression. My husband received the

devastating news of the cancellation while on his own at a clinic. He had insisted he would go himself as he thought it was the routine visit before his procedure. He wanted to protect me from having to visit the Royal that day.

He had a stent fitted for a bile duct blockage and was partly conscious during this procedure. We heard later that severe anxiety can overcome the effects of the sedatives and he did not trust the doctors so I think this provoked the anxiety. He had no problem when another stent was fitted at a local hospital.

My husband ended up with paranoia after his experience and refused to return to the Royal. His care was taken over by our local hospital which was great.

I was watching this treatment of my husband and tried to do something about it. I had no success. I wrote to the Scottish government who pointed me in the direction of the hospital . The hospital ignored my letter as it was not an official complaint. Efforts to try to find a way through the system met with a brick wall and aggression.

Since my husband's death I have suffered PTSD and I attribute a good portion of this to Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

My husband acknowledges in his document that staff also suffered from varying degrees of stress. The overriding feeling on his ward was "we are all in this together. There is no point complaining because nothing will change" . My husband's last words on that is "that of course is the self fulfilling prophecy"