"Made an upsetting situation much worse"

I accompanied a friend to A & E on the advice of the NHS helpline this afternoon. The receptionist and the nurse were both pleasant and helpful. The background is that my friend had decided (after much heartache) to have a termination. She visited the Marie Stopes clinic in Stratford yesterday and was given the first half of the medication. She returned this morning - as advised to collect the final part of the medication - to find that the clinic was shut. Upon phoning the helpline, she was told to go to Manchester (!) or London (!!) instead. She then managed to get an appointment in Coventry for Monday. In the meantime, an out-of-hours GP (very helpful) told my friend to go to A & E in Warwick and that the Gynaecology Dept there should be able to help. We went to A & E and after an initial consultation with a very nice nurse, we had another appointment with both the nurse and the consultant. I don’t know how the consultant usually responds to patients who are clearly in an emotional and distressed state (my friend was in pain and had started miscarrying at this point) but as a bystander I’ve never ever experienced rudeness and aggression like that, let alone a senior professional who should be skilled in reassuring and explaining the situation calmly and reasonably. The consultant actually said in a very unpleasant manner - and this blew me away - ‘What do you expect from an A & E Department on a Saturday afternoon?’ !!! I did try to explain to them that we hadn’t turned up in a whim or on a caprice and more importantly that that’s what my friend had been TOLD to do! The consultant's rudeness was breathtaking - the nurse looked acutely embarrassed (they've obviously experienced this before), my friend was in floods of tears - clearly in a very distressed state - and she was treated like a vexatious timewaster. This is not the way to communicate effectively or respectfully with people. Although the consultant clearly couldn’t do anything which is fair enough (they told us breezily that this happens ‘all the time’ ie that patients are referred to A & E by out of hours doctors) and that as my friend was in the middle of treatment with Marie Stopes they couldn’t bypass this process. I am extremely concerned that someone else will have to experience what we did and would very much like the consultant to contact my friend and offer a full, unreserved and sincere apology. I’d also recommend some communication skills/ empathy training. Respect and kindness costs nothing and does a great deal to calm and reassure...