"Autistic Nightmare"

I attended A&E since I could not get a face-to-face appointment with a GP. I had been experiencing ongoing numbness and back pain for several weeks and felt there was no alternative than to visit A&E when I became much worse, and I was told to attend via 111.

Triaged quickly and asked to attend to Urgent Care Centre in another part of the hospital, did this, handed my notes in and took a seat. For someone with autism (which seemingly is not flagged on my NHS Shared Care Record) waiting in the Urgent Care Centre was awful, the lights were far too bright in the waiting room, teamed with the bright yellow paint on the wall, it was just painful to sit there, add that to the small portable radio blaring out loud music, it’s just aimed to lead me to a sensory overloading meltdown, and no staff around to ask if there was somewhere else to wait given my autism. I also noted people who were arriving after me were being seen before me, after 60 minutes I had to leave, as my brain could not cope with the over stimulation anymore. I left in tears, health problem unresolved.