"My husband almost died in Dumfermline"

It was July 2008 and driving back home to England from a visit to Scotland my husband became very ill. I took over the wheel and left the motorway to look for the nearest hospital, Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline. He was doubled up in pain and vomiting.

We were seen quite quickly and within an hour they said they were going to admit him for observation. Next day they phoned to say I could pick him up and take him home. They gave him painkillers.

He didn't look any better than when I had taken him in, so as soon as I returned home I took him to our own local hospital's A&E department. They opened the letter from Queen Elizabeth that was meant for his GP. That said they suspected it was his heart (though they had told us they thought it was food poisoning).

Our own hospital had other ideas - my husband was immediately scheduled for emergency surgery, and he underwent an operation for a burst appendix. He almost died, the surgeon said it was one of the worst cases he had seen and he was lucky to make it, they had opened him up in five different places.

We've never reported this, but feel concerned that the doctors in Dunfermline seemed clueless as to how serious my husband's condition was, and they weren't even remotely correct in what they thought it was. Were they students? They were certainly young.

We hope our story will help prevent it from happening again.