"Refusal to see a patient referred by another hopsital"

My son in law had eye pain on Tuesday - went to Caerphilly minor injuries who said he had a tear in cornea and treated him, a few hours later & the pain became very intense so he returned (3am) and they said the tear had got bigger & he needed to be seen by a specialist @ RGH in the morning - they were sending details to RGH eye department who would call him Wed am to make an appointment - @ 12-00 No call from RGH so my daughter called the department but they flatly refused to see him and said it was only an abrasion and told him to go to Specsavers (my daughter said the person was also rude and abrupt) - later in day he say ophthalmic optician who said he had an 80% tear in his cornea - the optician has followed up on the problem.

Can someone explain to me how RGH can just refuse to see a patient having been referred to them by another hospital?