"Accident and emergency"

Was advised to go to a&e by 111 with my adult daughter. We explained to 111 that I am her carer and her anxiety will be very bad if she is told to go alone so could I go with her to make sure she is checked and they said it should be okay if we explain to the staff on arrival to William Harvey hospital. This was as a result of a returned call as their urgent treatment centre was already at capacity for the night.

On arrival, a security guard said they had to change their rules today as the result of an incident last night where they have ended up with more visitors than patients and that they had been reported for this too many times so have introduced a blanket ban on visitors even when I explained I was her carer, she said to speak to the triage nurse at the next door as it would be the health professionals decision 

The triage nurse came to greet us at the entrance and I asked if I could come with my daughter as her carer and it was implied that I was using this as an excuse. I was shocked by this reply and explained it is her GAD that causes her distress but could not give further details as I was cut off by the nurse saying they had a legal direction to not allow any visitors into the department. I asked what would happen if my daughter refused to come in alone and was told there were doctors and nurses in there - and they rolled their eyes at me.

My daughter began having a panic attack and said let's leave so the nurse suggested that it was probably her anxiety anyway based on the little we had shared of her symptoms including a rushing, pulsing feeling in her head that had been ongoing for several hours and intermittent heart palpitations. Said my daughter could see her GP on Monday if she was still concerned. I stepped away from her to calm my daughter and ask her to consider going in but essentially she felt she had been refused treatment because they did not appreciate or consider the distress it would cause her to be alone in accident and emergency where we have previously waited 17 hours to see someone from the Mental health team. This was disappointing but also very concerning for people who may be turned away that have a genuine issue with being alone for a mental health disability. My daughter has PIP to support her and I am recognised as her carer too. If we had been asked, I had letters on my phone of evidence from the mental health team etc but we were not given an opportunity.