Shocking treatment from nurse on reception. Waited for over 4 hours only to be told my name had been called 2 hours ago and that I would need to re register and wait for a further 3 hours. Doctors stand at one end and call your name, you can barely hear them. Left without seeing anyone and feeling more pain and stress all for nothing. Joke of a service and no care in the world for their service users.

Reception staff are extremely rude and dismissive, mainly the girl that was on the triage department yesterday 28/03 at 6:30pm. Told her the symptoms I have and she said ‘well it’s a 5 hour wait and looking at you you look fine and well to me’ Didn’t realise triage staff were experienced to determine whether people are well or not just by looking at you? Advised by 111 to go straight to A&E but dismissed heavily by this rude woman. Not suprised this person gets a lot of bad reviews. Poor

My family and I have used pretty much every department of this excellent hospital over the past 20 years. Maternity 3 times, geriatrics, paediatrics, broken bones, burns, emergency assessments and countless Accident and Emergency visits. We're an active family! At every stage we were met with a hard working, professional and compassionate team.

Take your inflatable bed with you. This is my second one-star review in a lifetime, so take it or leave it. Unfortunately, I have been in the rvi a&e quite a few times recently, and all my experiences were awful. Awful to the point that I would rather take a risk of refusing ambulance advice and stay at home than go there ever again. First, the waiting times. Just please let me remind you, this is an emergency, not a walk-in GP service. Waiting times are... Get ready... Over TEN hours. Officially. Once I waited twelve. And you will be waiting in a crowded waiting area, sitting on an uncomfortable chair, squished between other ouching patients (forget about social distancing) for all that time. People with heart disease can confirm that sitting on a hard chair for ten hours without sleep, food or water can be an agonizing experience. The waiting times are huge even if there is only a dozen of people in the waiting room, with some being just partners or carers of the ill ones. So, it takes about an hour per patient which is unbelievable slow. Then, you witness some patients being in clear distress, screaming with pain, or falling from their chairs, with some nurses barely noticing patient's suffering, and moving around with a speed of a jelly fish. I must say, there are some very good nurses, professional and swift, but some just can't be bothered. Especially the ones at the reception.They constantly demonstrate that they cannot care less about what is going on in the room. I have never seen anyone from the medical stuff to come to the patients just to check if they are ok. It's like being in a purgatory waiting of the judgment day and hope for the kindness of your masters. Small but annoying thing, the TV with sky news is constantly on, showing you all the murders, wars, nature disasters over an over again (you will notice the news are pre-recorded and repeat themselves every hour or so), even at the night hours, adding to the anxiety, preventing from having a nod or some calm meditation. You cannot get away from one of the two screens there, or you risk to miss when they call you (they do it from a distance, so you need to pay attention). Then, the professionalism. You know, if the level of care after the wait was excellent, perhaps I would soften my judgment but... Usually it is just a waste of everyone's time. For example, they have forgotten on two occasions to take the second blood test to check the level of my heart damage. Just forgotten... Once they have failed to arrange a transportation for an elderly disabled person that I have accompanied, saying they don't do it which was a lie. Once they have told me that I cannot have a heart attack because I am young, slim, non-smoking female. I suddenly wished I smoked and ate more cakes, also presenting as male. Perhaps I would be less prejudiced then. And overall, doctors rarely say anything useful apart of: we are just a&e here, you don't require urgent hospitalisation now, go to your GP, ok?. So every time I leave the hospital I feel empty, deceived, thrown away. And extremely tired. A lot of suffering, with zero outcome. Thinking never again. But then ambulance comes again, and I just don't have the gut to stand my ground, and ... Welcome to the hell. Basically, the service needs an urgent and through reform. More patient -orientated, better staffed, better equipped, with better training of the junior staff. May be a new unit? Being a clinician is a tough job, but if you cannot do it well, just let someone else to do it better. Perhaps this service is the underlying cause of the higher mortality in the north-east in comparison to the rest of England. This should be rectified urgently.

Extremely rude staff, rolled their eyes at me at the reception desk because I explained I am a carer for my wife and she did not want to be by herself. Let me in to the X-ray then to tell me that they were not comfortable with me being there despite being polite as I understand how busy they are. A bit of a shame really as I expected more polite service at the very least.

Massively understaffed and consistently long waiting times. Can't cope with demand for the service. I totally understand the staff are rushed off their feet but I asked the head nurse a few questions and I found her attitude quite rude and abrupt to be honest. Not what you want in a place that is meant to be good at dealing with trauma...

Wow, just wow! 04/11/2023, I know they're busy and stretched, the NHS is on it's knees, but just the basics that they need to do weren't getting done in a timely manner, or at all actually. They don't seem to have time for the basics but have time to chat. I can tell you the life stories of a few of them, like the one who is getting married in 18 months but hasn't asked her friends to be bridesmaids yet, don't worry though, they get together at Christmas and she'll ask them all then, especially since her Sister (maid of honour) refuses to organise her hen do. Then there's Doctors who just got back from Disneyland in Florida, but are desperate for overtime because their kids want the contents of the Smyths catalogue for Christmas!! Or the other nurse who got rudely dumped by her bloke. Or the nurse who is apparently the weirdest of the team, actually the words used were "you're the weirdest of the F'ing team!" Yet I had to tell them when my loved one was due paracetamol every 4 hours because it didn't seem like they were anyone's patient! Then today I find out they didn't even do what they said they would, so 36 hours later & we're no better off. Having them transferred to another hospital, have no faith in the RVI!

Horrible and aggravating experience. Went with my 16yo son for very concerning symptoms at 3pm today and we just arrived home now, at 0:35 without being seen, we just gave up. In the meantime, EVERY DRUNKARD, EVERY VOMITING PARTY LASS, EVERY BROKEN HEAD FROM DRINKING AND BRAWLING was sorted in two hours from arrival and addressed with "darling" and "love" and allowed to shout, swear and make an absolute circus, each and every one of them while those of us with real health issues, were not seen. Not even my 16yo. Newcastle is a city of alcohol addicts who looks after his drunkards and junkies. Way to go

I accompanied my baby girl to attend an emergency assessment @ RVI Children E&A. The overall process was anxious and worrying, mainly due to the illness. I can perfectly understand why people are rating 1 star - because the waiting process is toooooooooooooooo long. However, to be fair, I don't think the staff should take the blame. I rate three stars purely from my experience perspective. I still appreciate the professionalism of the medical team. I've spent 1 hour on 111 pre-assessment with my baby's cut wound, and with a referral to the E&A I still wait for like 1 hour more to see a doctor. ( And there are lots of people waiting way more than I did) It is hard for doctors to balance between patients and their severity of illness. I understand that, and I hope someone can improve this. Some chat or comforting while patients are waiting can help a lot. (this can be done by interns or students, maybe?)

Reception staff not helpful sister rude shrugged her shoulders when I asked how long it would take to be seen I said partner was leaveing as was in pain and wanted to lie down nurses was more concerned about trying to wake patients up that had nothing wrong with them and just wanted somewhere to sleep instead of seeing to patients who were awake and genuinely wanted to be treated

Amazing emergency response. I’ve been before for less immediate issues and had appropriately long waits for an underfunded service but this time even though I just walked in the triage nurse was incredible. Looked at me, sent me to give my details to the booking in person and was poised to escort me to a bay and start treatment as soon as my information printed out. Kind considerate staff throughout. I had a longish wait for discharge because of a more serious situation so could really see how busy they were behind those doors off reception. They just never stop and still manage to be kind and gentle. Would give more stars if I could. Remember that triage’s job is to prioritise and that Ponteland Road or minor injuries can do X-ray etc if you go during opening hours.

Very bad service, no empathy. Rude staff and long waiting time to be seen

Been waiting for 10 hours now and finally get to be seen by a doctor to be told I need to be seen by the consultant here we go again, waiting and waiting. No one comes to check if you are okay

Very clean and tidy and well organised. Didn't have to wait too long for treatment. All the staff were very polite and helpful.

111 told us to go to RVI Emergency, then we went and spoke to one of nurse. She said coughing with chest infection, flu and posibly Covid sympton is "NORMAL" and she sent us home! By the way my wife and i are NHS Staff! I will complain to the head office about this!

Everyone left in corridor they rather deal with drunks that shouldn’t even be in hospital, need more private hospitals in th uk nhs is a joke

RVI accident and emergency is a credit to the NHS. After visiting this morning I can't thank the staff enough for the fantastic service they provide.

Nurse who saw me in A&E tonight got me in 2 mins before her shift finished. She stayed behind after her shift to treat me. Can’t thank the people and team behind the NHS enough, they genuinely care about patients. Shame the NHS is so poorly funded that the generosity and charity of the staff is being used against them by government. Even with this, it’s a 5-6hr wait.

No empathy at all in this place. They treat you like trash.

Message kept saying I was number 1 in the queue still took 7 minutes to answer, person I spoke too could not wait to hang up

There was a huge wait but this wasn't the fault of the staff. The A and E was packed. I saw one young Dr throughout who went above and beyond to be thorough, kind and informative. I got all tests needed and medication. Thank you

Excellent care

Always been a good hospital with great doctors and but nurses

Good service EXCEPT the time I was mugged while unconscious from bleeding ulcer in waiting area.. Then mugged /tortured later by 3 sadist nurses/some night junior staff in ICU, then in ward48.. The rest of the staff, great job, doing their best under pressure..

As usual excellent care. They never stop. Attentive and give there utmost x

We’ve been waiting now for more than 12hours, they lost the urine sample and has to come and get a new one. Blood test took them 8 hours, even a 4th world country does a better job than this. Really upsetting especially when they it’s a sick child. Disgusting service.