Grieving husband’s demand for action

David Dunsire’s wife Kay died after she was given substandard cancer care ... and he wants staff to face prosecution

A Fife pensioner who lost his wife to illness said staff who failed to care properly for her should be prosecuted.

Kay Dunsire died in 2012 from hospitalacquired pneumonia.

NHS Fife apologised to her husband, David, after the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman upheld a complaint that the authority failed to provide her with a reasonable standard of nursing care and treatment while she was a patient at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital.

The authority took so long to deal with the 73-year-old’s claims he was time-barred from making a compensation claim.

He said those responsible should face health and safety legislation charges.

“Apologies don’t bring my wife back,” he told The Courier.

Health Secretary Shona Robison has offered to meet Mr Dunsire to discuss his case.

A Fife man believes medical staff who may have contributed to his wife’s death should be prosecuted — and has been offered a meeting with health secretary Shona Robison over the issue.

David Dunsire from Kirkcaldy has criticised authorities for continuing to “drag their heels” over responses to his questions about the death of his wife Kay in December 2012.

As revealed by The Courier in April, the 73-year-old feels he has been left with nowhere to turn after the threeyear time limit for making a compensation claim came and went while NHS Fife – which subsequently apologised for its failings – and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) looked into his concerns.

However, Mr Dunsire also maintains NHS staff in Scotland should be brought before the courts if patients die or are caused harm by shortcomings in care under the Health and Safety Act, as is now the case south of the border.

“Apologies don’t bring my wife back,” he told The Courier. “We keep on hearing ‘we’re going to learn lessons, we’re going to learn lessons’ but they are not learning lessons.

“If the Health and Safety Act is an act, the act should be law.

“If it doesn’t mean anything then get rid of it.”

Mrs Dunsire died from hospitalacquired pneumonia on December 6 2012 after she had initially been treated at Muiredge Surgery in May that year due to all-over joint pain.

It was not until July 30, however, when Mrs Dunsire’s condition became so bad she needed to be taken to Victoria Hospital’s A&E department that a subsequent X-ray of her chest showed a shadow on her lung and signs of suspected lung cancer – which was later confirmed.

Mr Dunsire’s complaint letter to the SPSO covered a whole raft of his concerns about his wife’s treatment and care.

This included issues with adults with incapacity, communication, unnecessary delays with investigations and tests, treatment decisions including medication and whether these were provided within a reasonable time, the decision to transfer Mrs Dunsire into a hospice, record-keeping and the failure to follow a dietician’s advice.

The SPSO upheld two of three complaints.

These were that NHS Fife failed to provide Mrs Dunsire with a reasonable standard of nursing care and treatment while she was a patient at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital in 2012 and that it failed to handle Mr Dunsire’s complaint in a reasonable way.

Apologies don’t bring my wife back. We keep on hearing ‘we’re going to learn lessons, we’re going to learn lessons’ but they are not learning lessons

Picture: Steven Brown. David Dunsire has called for further action after his wife’s death.

Picture: Steven Brown. David Dunsire from Kirkcaldy with a photo of his late wife Kay, who died in 2012. He is still unhappy at responses to his concerns about her treatment.