"Accompanying my friend to the ..."

What I liked

Accompanying my friend to the Walk-In Centre, we were immediately assessed and re-directed to A & E, where after Triage we were told of a possible wait of 2 hours. Thankfully the initial examination started in just over 1 hour, and my friend has now been admitted to NGH for treatment.

What could be improved

After waiting in the corridor of A & E for my friend to be transferred (initially to RVI) it was only because I went and found a member staff that we were advised of a possible wait of 4 hours for transfer. It seems that new doctors on the ward had not been advised of protocol, to keep the patient informed of decisions on plans for treatment etc. I appreciate that all medical staff are very busy, but if new staff were made aware of protocol re patient information then a lot of stress and possible distress could easily be avoided.

Now that you have all Newcastle hospitals on the same contact telephone number 0191 2336161, surely you can improve your switchboard/call centre response times?? The phone rang for so long that I almost disconnected, thinking that perhaps I had dialled incorrectly!

Also, please check your home page layout -especially spellcheck, as the first line of NGH info says it is "imporant" (letter t missed out) and "receive" spelled incorrectly at least 3 times! Gives a very unprofessional impression of NGH.