To be perfectly honest 100Percent that isn't entirely true. A&E depts across the country are admitting teens to acute beds, usually voluntarily but with the threat of safeguarding complaints against the family if they dissent, sometimes for 72 hours, because camhs only work 9-5 on a spectacularly disorganised basis.
CAMHS refused support for my dd in 2015, when she was cutting and taking small ods. she had a tiny crisis in 2016 - trigger exams when she went to A&E after taking 9 antistamine and a swig of benylin. She went to A&E more than 24 hours later. She was safety netted by a consultant psychiatrist privately. The hospital did not call me for 4 hours meanwhile persuading her to be admitted for a camhs review with a 1:1 mh nurse pending review the ext day. The dr told me she was fine, bloods normak, just routine and it was all just a protocol, oh and I ad given my permission for the matter to be referred to ss. I had not.
DD wanted to go home, and when I put my foot down it was discovered she could be assessed age 17 in A&E. This was put in place. The mh nurse said she was good to go, the dr had said she would be good to go if the mh assessor said so, the mh assessor checked with the camhs on call psych who said she was good to go.
Four hours after Ibarrived we had still not been discharged and when I told the ward sister we had been messed about enough and I expected it to bed sorted in ten minutes I was screamed at across the dept that I was causing a safeguarding issue and obstructing my dd's care and if we left she would call the police. 20 minutes later we left and there was a complete volte face after the dr's had eventually conflabbed.
Guess what? CAMHS promised therapy within a couple of weeks when they assessed on the following Tuesday. They then moved the goal posts and didn't think anything was necessary for 12 weeks. Fortunately dd had a private psychiatrist and was diagnosed, reviewed, and counselled at a cost of c£6000. She recovered.
The NHS continually whined about lack of resources but had £900 for an unnecessary admission necessitated because supposedly highly trained staff did not know what assessment facilities were available at their own hospital. The NHS also had funds for three assessments to confirm dd didn't need their mediocre counselling.
So for all those saying drs and nurses always know best, they don't actually and neither are they always knowledgeable or do they always have the patients interests ahead of their personal backside covering.
And finally, the twit of a camhs nurse when I called the day after the psychiatrists meeting where the adhd diagnosis was confirmed said upon being told with a little laugh "well now mum I think she's a bit old to have that at 17".
Whilst I don't think the op was right I can well imagine the potentially poor standard of communication. I also do not think at all that a&e staff always get it right, always treat people with respect and always know more than the parent and don't get me on the subject of the complete incompetence of camhs.
It seemed to me there was a lot of moneyvsloshing about to support camhs inflexible working practices, for endless assessments to justify why interventions could be delayed and for £900 acute overnight admissions when there were alternatives available.
This is Surrey. It. Is Not. Good. Enough When the system stops wasting money it can tell me there are insufficient resources.