A Fife father whose son took his own life due to stress at work has again directed his anger at his son’s former employers for how he and his family have been dealt with since the tragedy.
Medical records supervisor Brian Gilfillan (36) was found hanged in the grounds of Forth Park Hospital, Kirkcaldy, on October 28, 2008 the day he faced a disciplinary hearing for forging a signature on stationery orders to get a job done more quickly.
Mr Gilfillan’s father Stewart describes his family’s treatment since as “diabolical” and he continues to demand answers as to why his son was driven to commit suicide.
A fatal accident inquiry into Mr Gilfillan’s death ruled last year that it had been “no coincidence” that his suicide came on the day he faced a disciplinary hearing highlighting a lack of training and management failures among those involved in Mr Gilfillan’s disciplinary procedure.
Sheriff Grant McCulloch had added that Mr Gilfillan’s actions in forging the name of line manager Anne Starkie had “not amounted to serious misconduct” and thought that a first warning would have sufficed.
He said Mrs Starkie, her line manager Valerie Anderson and human resources officer Karen Laird made a fundamental error in mistaking forgery for fraud.
While that was made public, Mr Gilfillan snr, who said his son’s work was “his life”, said he was denied the findings of the health service’s internal inquiry.
He said, “All I’ve ever wanted is for the health board to admit they were wrong and that should be the end of the story. But I’ve just been ignored by NHS Fife and they seem to think they can walk over the top of everybody.”
He added, “They don’t want me to know what happened and they are all the biggest liars on the face of this earth. That’s not miscrying them even criminals seem to have more rights than me and they have point blank refused me the information I’m after.”
Mr Gilfillan also criticised health chiefs, who told him at the time that they “knew how he felt”, adding, “Unless you’ve been through that personally, you don’t know how people feel.”
Mr Gilfillan had been called in for an investigatory hearing in 2008 after forging Mrs Starkie’s signature to place an order for maternity forms during her absence in March of that year.
During the hearing he accepted that he had forged the signature and the matter was referred to Mrs Anderson. After a subsequent disciplinary hearing on July 1, procedures against Mr Gilfillan were stepped up with him being pursued for “fraud” and “serious misconduct,” and he also received two letters warning him he faced possible dismissal.
It was that pressure that eventually led to Mr Gilfillan being found hanging from a tree by a co-worker in the grounds of the hospital.
Mr Gilfillan snr said he was particularly incensed to hear that one of the bosses involved is being lined up for a promotion.
He said, “We have to live with this every day and they will be rubbing salt into the the wound if they do this. The health board seems to work the same as Fife Council the bigger the idiot, the higher up they go.”
He added, “The staff have been upset all weekend after hearing this they have still got a lot of feelings for Brian because he got on with them and if NHS Fife go ahead with this they’ll be asking for trouble.
“There have been 1088 people who have left messages on a website for Brian and, for a man, I think that’s an incredible figure.”
NHS Fife was urged to review its approach to employee welfare after the FAI, although Sheriff McCulloch ruled that there had been “no reasonable precautions whereby the death might have been avoided” and that “there were no defects in any system of work which contributed to the death.”
Sheriff McCulloch noted Mr Gilfillan’s actions were “misguided” in signing Mrs Starkie’s signature and it did constitute a “breach of trust,” but stressed that a warning accompanied by training and guidance on procedure would have been enough.
An NHS Fife spokesman said it did not comment on any matters relating to individual members of staff. However, the spokesman added, “We would once again like to express our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Mr Gilfillan following his tragic death.
“NHS Fife would urge Mr Gilfillan’s family to contact us directly if they have any issues they wish to raise.”