All the Gilmour family wanted was for their mother to be treated with dignity. 89-year-old Edith was admitted to Gartnavel General Hospital in Glasgow after a fall, and four weeks later she died in what her loved ones say were "degrading" circumstances.

Their plea for dignity will strike a chord with the respondents to a survey that showed many experienced problems with the NHS and faced significant barriers to complaints.

Mrs Gilmour, of Clydebank, went into Gartnavel after losing mobility in her right leg.

But in the space of a month her family watched her die after contracting the superbug Clostridium Difficile.

Mrs Gilmour's son Billy, 60, said: "When my mother died the family were round the bed and when we got the nurse she just took her pulse and said she's dead'.

"We knew she was dead. We were expecting some kind of assistance. It was horrible. We had just sat watching my mother die.

"There was no dignity. No doctor came to see us."

Mr Gilmour said he and his wife and sister were stunned, but that after the "cold" way the nurse said their mother was dead there was further humiliation.

"Fifteen minutes after she died they gave us her soiled clothes in two plastic bags. Surely that's not the correct procedure for someone who has C Difficile?"

The highly infectious superbug hit 55 at Vale of Leven Hospital, in West Dunbartonshire, which also under Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board (GGCHB), about a year ago. The outbreak resulted in 18 deaths and prompted an inquiry.

"We complained about a number of aspects of my mother's treatment and eventually they set up a meeting, but an hour and a half before the meeting the doctor involved cancelled," said Mr Gilmour, who complained about hygiene in the hospital.

A spokesman for Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board admitted "some issues could have been handled better".

The case comes as a new report confirms the extent of the problem highlighted in The Herald in recent months.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, Jim Martin, has spoken out over the treatment elderly people have received.

Mr Martin heavily criticised the GGCHB over decisions that resulted in an elderly man dying in hospital with festering bed sores the size of saucers after he went in for a knee operation.

Lachie Turner's daughter Jaye Kerr, 46, said the true extent of her father injuries was never revealed to the family despite constant complaints to medical staff at the South General Hospital in Glasgow about his care.

Last year Tayside Health Board officials apologised to a former NHS trust director over the "shocking" delays in her late husband's cancer diagnosis.

Sandra MacKenzie said she believed her husband Bill, who died aged 75, could have survived had his condition not been inexplicably downgraded from "urgent" to "soon".

An investigation found earlier action "may have altered the prognosis for the better".

GGCHB was also criticised after a delay in diagnosing cancer in 63-year-old Ian Wilson, who subsequently died.

Sandra Wilson, 60, felt the death of her husband could have been avoided if the cancer had been detected earlier by doctors.

In 2006 Norman Irons, a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh, received an apology from healthcare executives at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after he accused staff of killing his elderly mother through neglect. Anne Irons, 89, was admitted to the hospital after breaking her pelvis. Mr Irons said his mother received no bath and only two showers in 28 days, her nightclothes were left soiled in her locker for relatives to collect, and clinical waste was left at her bedside. She died four weeks later from bronchopneumonia.

Most recently, Mr Martin spoke out after Grace Settle, 88, was admitted to the Victoria Infirmary after breaking her hip but was then diagnosed with an infection.

She died in the Glasgow hospital in an open ward with no curtains for privacy. Her son Ian Settle, 48, condemned the "lack of dignity and respect," afforded his mother.

Mr Gilmour said: "When I saw the Settle family's case it was like a carbon copy of what happened to us. There's bound to be more."

A spokesman for GGCHB said: "Our clinical team have already met with the family members to try and resolve their concerns.

"Our medical team did absolutely everything they could for this very unwell patient and there should be no question that her medical care was appropriate.

"The staff team who have met with the family agree that there are some issues that could have been handled better and these are being taken up with staff."