"Not happy with Preferential treatment"

I was in hospital admitted and really unwell. I asked if my partner could stay with me because I was feeling anxious and a bit scared, but they said no. I was told it was the same rule for everyone unless you were a parent or had an exceptional circumstance. Later, another patient, two young people, one was a patient asked if their friend could stay the night too. A senior nurse showed empatheticness and said lots of people ask that, but they can't have extras for many reasons and have to follow the same rules for everyone. The afterhours nurse said that too. That made sense and felt fair but i was disappointed and respectful.

But then, the two young people went outside to smoke and said to wait for the other nurse to go to dinner and then ask the other nurse and make a story up that the doctor said they could stay. So they did. After the nurse went on a break I saw that same patient and their friend talking to another nurse. They planned how to get around it and said the doctor said it was okay for them to stay. I heard one of them works at the hospital. When the first nurse came back, the patient just told them they were staying and wasn't fair for any of the rest of us.

It ended up with those young people staying, but other patients like me weren’t allowed to have someone with them, even though we really needed support. Another patient even said later that it wasn’t fair and that they got special treatment because they knew people and they worked there.

It felt like two of the nurses tried to keep things fair and someone else just overruled it. In the end, two people unfairly got what they wanted, and others missed out. It didn’t sit right. Rules should be the same for everyone unless there’s a very good reason. It shouldn’t depend on who you know and preferential treatment.