Why is the NHS denying disabled people access to A&E?

A blind woman was prevented from seeking medical help for her ill child in a London hospital because of her guide dog. Such situations are far more common that you’d think, writes James Moore

The charity Guide Dogs has found that 81 per cent of owners have been refused entry when out with their dogs – which is illegal (Pete Summers/SWNS.com)

“Here we go again” was my immediate reaction when I first read the story of Dr Amy Kavanagh, a blind woman who was denied access to a London hospital while seeking treatment for her sick child.

Kavanagh was, you see, accompanied by her guide dog. Guide dogs are supposed to be exempt from rules prohibiting animals, for reasons that ought to be glaringly obvious. They were glaringly obvious to people waiting to be seen at the West Middlesex University Hospital and to some of its staff. But not to the security guard who confronted and shouted at Kavanagh at the entrance to A&E.

“Advocating in the face of a threatening, loud security guard is frightening. I didn’t know how he would react, if he would get physical. I was left with a pounding heart and full of adrenaline as I tried to explain to doctors that my baby was sick. It was horrible,” Kavanagh posted on X, formerly Twitter, in the wake of an encounter that sounds horrific.