"Lack of understanding"

My child has Aspergers with severe anxiety issues. We attended an outpatient's appointment at the Children's Hospital in Newcastle with a Paediatric Surgeon. My child has a Hospital Passport which staff should use to help understand their issues, but at our recent appointment no effort was made to help or understand.

There was confusion about whether they needed one or two scans before seeing the consultant with the result that my child's stress was already near meltdown. In the outpatient reception I told them we had a Hospital Passport and needed somewhere quiet but although they acknowledged the Passport we were made to sit in they busy, noisy waiting area. My child went into complete meltdown with the result that they were unable to communicate when we got in to see the consultant. The nurse with the consultant then took one look at my child and said I won't offer any help as they won't engage. What the nurse should have said was 'I can see your child has a lot of stress, how can I help them engage'.

Everything at the hospital went wrong that day, my child wasn't treated with any understanding or respect with the result that our lives have been made so much more difficult.