Just spend ten days here quite ill. I come from glasgow and took sick while on holiday in Blyth…read more The staff here are superb and really looked after me. The hospital itself is very modern and the koi carp are lovely. There are art exhibits all around the hospital. The food itself is typical hospital food. Remember and ask to order it though. Or you will be on basic rations until you know how.

How do you review a hospital? Wansbeck Hospital is a big NHS hospital in Ashington and a refererral…read morecentre for a lot of Northumberland patients. It has an Accident and Emergency department and consultant-led maternity unit, as well as the other hospital services you expect from a major hospital. I've been here both as a patient and as a visitor over the years. The building itself is pleasant, bright and generally clean. The pond in the centre with various koi and fake ducks (the koi fish are alive, the ducks are tacky!) is peaceful. Car parking is, as you'd expect, quite expensive and the car parks ar ebusy. They are two, one by the main entrance and one by the South Entrance where there's a nice cafe and the drop-off/pick up points are, as well as the Maternity Unit out of hours entrance. Information staff at the entrance are helpful and the medical personnel I've dealt with have been, in the main, professional, respectful and caring. The food isn't bad - I can't say it's terribly good either. The system for ordering it, while I was an in-patient, wasn't explained to me and I had two days of jacket potatoes or variations thereof - better than someone else I heard of who had a coleslaw sandwich! I still haven't figured out where I was supposed to make my choices and I don't think that's good enough when for most people being in hospital is stressful enough. It's well signposted and easy to get around and altogether a very necessary facility.

Fantastic hospital offering you speedy consultations with very friendly,caring and efficient staff!…read moreFrom the moment you walk in you're greeted with smiling faces who are happy to help direct you where to go and they offer you a porter wheelchair service (if your mobility is limited) as the corridor seems to go on forever when you're on crutches trust me! Clinics and surgery dates are very flexible with appointments late evening or at weekends which is great if you're under any pressure to minimise disruption at work! In all departments they offer complimentary tea and coffee facilities...a nice touch but don't expect to be waiting long. I was a regular attender here at the end of last year and I can honestly say I had a great experience. I had an overnight stay post surgery in a very quiet ensuite room. I developed insomnia frustratingly but the staff kept popping their heads in to offer me pain meds and hot chocolate. Both as an inpatient and in outpatient clinics my surgeon,nurses and physios were all absolutely fantastic...cannot fault the service at all!

Here at outpatients appointment. Quite a pleasant waiting area and coffee shop. They lose a star on…read morethe outdated information on the outpatient appointments card which is now simply incorrect. Everything else seems good and we're seeing an excellent consultant.

divnt gan to the q.e even if ya brake both legs!!! they will prob x-ray ya arms pua backward up…read morethere like full of... ( private joke ) inbread LOL

Attended here for a few outpatient hospital appointments over the last couple of years and while…read morethe waiting times in most clinics are excessive++ the RVI is a pretty good hospital. It can be difficult to navigate around if you're not familiar with the set up but staff are always more than happy to direct anyone wandering around looking lost. In the New Victoria Wing you have a selection of places to eat including a Costa Coffee and Subway but the prices are canny expensive. The building is light and airy almost resembling an airport in my opinion so not a bad place for visitors to wait. Quite a contrast to Leazes Wing which is a tad stuffy but again it's the staff and quality of care that really matter and that appears to be top notch!

I'm new to the area and so needed a new local GP. I found the registration process for Mallard easy…read moreto deal with, and unlike my old GP in Birmingham, Mallard offer registration for an online service where you can order repeat prescriptions to be electronically sent to your preferred Pharmacy, view your existing medical records and book appointments without having to play the lottery of telephoning the surgery at the right time. The surgery itself is one of the smallest in the area, the benefit of which is that you don't feel rushed when seeing staff for an appointment. Nobody likes having to visit the Doctors, but this practice makes visits as easy an experience as possible.

Thought I'd write this review on the back of having attended this hospital for daycase surgery…read moreyesterday in addition to several outpatient appointments prior to this. Unlike the RVI the Freeman is situated just outside of the city centre in High Heaton/South Gosforth but remains easily accessible by car, bus or metro. It has a lot of speciality services including the regional Transplant Centre and the new build Northern Centre for Cancer Care. I'm a massive advocate of the NHS and am well aware of the pressures but every time I attended an outpatient appointment I was kept waiting for between 1 and 3 hours which is where they lost a star. Waiting areas were cramped and didn't offer any drinking facilities other than water of course and I wasn't permitted to leave to get a coffee neither (which for a caffeine addict was difficult to take!) That said.....the staff are all incredible! Obviously rushed off their feet and yet always willing to go the extra mile to ensure every individual is cared for, particularly on the ward. I was given privacy and treated with respect. Every step along the way meeting the doctors, anaethetists, physio's and nursing staff they would have a laugh with you to make you feel at ease and they promptly organised home prescriptions and follow up appointments. I was in significant pain post surgery and the nurses were wonderful...promptly giving me a cocktail of meds which settled it nicely and they offered me regular coffees/toast. Overall I'd say persevere with the waiting times and try not to let it cloud your overall judgement as once through the doors the care is exceptional and all credit to everyone in the NHS who works hard to make patients like me feel lucky to have such a great healthcare system in place!

This hospital is the local specialist centre for Spinal Injureis and as such is excellent…read more Patients on this unit tend to be long stay and the staff are the very best. They go out of their way to be helpful and make every procedure easy, explaining ewverything as they go. This is also the case for every other area of the hhospital, so if you hhave a choice then please consider here

A really pleasant open airy hospital with very pleasant public areas. The whole place felt clean…read moreand tidy. The foyer area offered a nice coffee shop and some other shops including a jewellers. Better than most of the hospitals I have visited

I went to see a physio for pain in my side. After an MRI and long waits, I was told there was…read morenothing wrong with my back, that I should do more exercise, and that I should stop being careful with my back. I already exercise and have a perfect BMI. I followed his advice and tried to move more, but I ended up unable to move because of severe back pain. He had told me there was nothing on my MRI and nothing wrong. I requested my records and the MRI scan so I could see for myself, because it was hard to believe--and I have now lost my job after following his advice and being unable to get to work. It turns out the MRI scan has still not been provided, but the notes he wrote completely contradict what he told me. They mention bulging discs and arthritis in my spine. I phoned up and was told to talk to PALS. I tried, but the voicemail box is full so you can't leave a message. I've made 63 unanswered phone calls now and there seems to be no other way to do anything. It feels like a great way to avoid complaints--just don't answer the phone.

The University Hospital, Darlington Memorial & Bishop Auckland General are grouped together in an…read moreNHS trust sharing services. Parking here is limited but have found a space when I have been recently, costing £2.50 for 2hrs going up to £4 for 12hrs, special parking is available if you have to park for longer, check with reception. As with most hospital outpatient appointments hurry up & wait is the norm. One thing I did find useful in this tech age is you can get digital copies of x-rays taken at any of the 3 hospitals, which are put on a CD with a password encryption. These have to be ordered & collected later. The charge to access medial records is £10 payable on collection. I found this service very useful as I don't remember how the x-rays looked during the appointment but was nice to examine them in my own time at home later & show them to my GP, remembering that it is confidential information. I found the nursing staff to be helpful & pleasant but the orthopaedic consultant a little brash as the first time I saw him was 9am on a Sunday morning. The 2nd visit he was a little more pleasant.