"Sensitivity needed in Warrington EMU"

My father was admitted to the Emergency Management Unit in Warrington Hospital today after visiting his GP with breathing difficulties and chest pains.

I would like to share how disgusted I was that the receptionist didn't take into account how distressed my mother and my family were. She harshly told us that we couldn't wait with my father - we were told that EMU had restrictions that patients only were allowed, and that relatives had to go home until he had a bed. Why couldn't she have explained this to us sensitively? She told us that we could visit one at a time when he has a bed but then didn't say how we would find out when he got a bed.

Later on my brother phoned on two occasions to ask how he was and he gave up after 15 minutes waiting on the first call and then 20 minutes on the second.

When we arrived for the evening visit the door was closed. I opened the door for my mother to simply ask if he was still there or if he had been moved to a ward, and she once again quite abruptly said that my husband and I had to wait in the relatives waiting room and only one person (my Mother) could go through to him. We didn't know where the waiting room was and stood in the corridor.

If my Mother had experienced this herself she would not have coped.

I would like to know how the receptionist would feel in our situation and hope her family never get treated in this way.