Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

been to RIE many times sadly as I have MS and do fall any had a stay wards 204 207 and staff where great and sadly been in 105 nurses great doctors don’t listen but on a poor note on 10÷03÷15 went into hospital by blue light ambulance ended up in 208 doctors said I was confused as I came in on 11^th odd the paper work said 10^th on the fri morning 13^th fell in shower lost hearing to left ear but doctor said see my own doctor for that as they can only treat me for what I come in for
as I was not walking well doctors wanted physio to see me she refused as I did get to toilet on own so my wife demanded she come the physio said the fall in shower was my fault as I had no shoes on then got on at me for walking near a wall I feel safer that way then got on at me for not walking 100 paces non stop I cant do more than 4 without stopping when I asked her for her HCPC card she said don’t have one they don’t do them any more you check on line but she ran away when I asked her name
Phoned HCPC on Monday and was told yes you can check on line or phone up but she must show her registration card when asked
HCPC said as she not got one could be she is late in renewing or been removed

It’s kind of difficult to review the RIE because it has so many departments that people can have a full ranger of experiences here.
So, I’ll try to address the facility as a whole, in addition to a few individual experiences.
First — the transport. There are several buses from all over the city which come here, which is great. Less great is that the drop-​off point has changed a few times which can make it difficult to figure out where you’re going when you’re left entering the hospital from a completely location from where you entered the last time. I’ve been glad in the past of giving myself plenty of time to find my appointment due to having no idea where I was going.
Having said that, the new drop-​off seems pretty good — it leads you right into the heart of the hospital (as opposed to a satellite entrance) which in the long run should work out better.
I don’t have much experience with other hospitals but the non-​medical facilities (wee shops, a café, etc) seem quite decent. It’s a bit like an airport in its selection, and I expect that if you were to have to spend several hours here, you would appreciate the distractions/​snacks on offer.
On to more specific experience…
I’ve been to A&E once and we waited FOREVER. But in that «forever» it was explained that there had been a major emergency which took most of the Drs away. Makes sense. A&E was also playing host that evening to a series of drunken nutters who had sprained ankles which they swore were broken. So yeah, not really the fault of A&E staff for having their time wasted by these folks.
My main experience has been with the Simpsons Centre for Reproductive Health. It’s massive! No matter how many times I’ve come here over the past couple of years, I always approach the wrong reception desk. Always. Some better signage may be in order here because I swear I can see no rhyme or reason about it.
No one enjoys visiting hospitals, but at least this one is clean, has plenty of toilets (millions, actually) and for the most part the staff seem lovely.

My visits to the Royal Infirmary have all been pleasant.
I’ve arrived by ambulance (my first!), on the 49 clutching my clearly infected innards and most recently I attended recently for a training day.
The staff are super nice and they listen and double check things! Hooray! I was lucky enough to have an understanding and patient (HA!) doctor one evening. After ringing NHS 24 I got an emergency appointment and went straight from work. She was vey kind to me when I couldn’t remember which antibiotic I was allergic to (lots of my medical files are back home and I was in too much pain to think straight) which I felt was fantastic and, in my experience, is not what you would get everywhere.
Overall a brilliant service for emergencies!

Don’t go here. Ever. Unless you have a scalpel sticking out of you, or some other lethal instrument, for the love of everything, do not go here. Over the past 9 months I’ve been in and out of this hospital and I’ve a pretty good idea of the level of «care» here. I’m also from the Netherlands so perhaps used to something better than 1950s Russian-​looking mortuary wards.
The staff is terrible at communicating, and that’s kind of important when they’re trying to stick stuff into you. The carpets are downright filthy, at one department I tried four toilets that were filled with diarrhoea before finding a toilet that was functioning and not full of s**t.
If you’re lucky enough to find a doctor in A&E, be prepared to wait for four hours before being told that you’re going to be sent home, and 9 months for a diagnosis that would have been made in a week max in the Netherlands, is apparently, not uncommon.
If you’re healthy, do not go here, if you’re sick, DO NOT come here, as I guarantee that whatever you catch here will be worse than what you had to begin with. This is a sick, sick joke.

I have just spent two weeks being cared for by the amazing staff at the Royal Infirmary and have huge respect for all the doctors, nurses, cleaners and tea ladies and for all the work that they do.
The nursing staff were very on the ball, if you asked for help they were there in seconds, if you needed something they got it right away, and you were able to build a rapport with them which also lifted your spirits!
I visited the Sanctuary in the Royal Infirmary a few times while I was there, a relaxing, calming space you could go to, to get off the ward and escape for a while, although it was nice to get out of the ward and there was usually no one there so you could be alone, it was pretty chilly in there!
Also the main shop in the hospital WHSmiths their prices were shocking, i spent a fortune, probably spent more in there than I do outside!
Overall all, I didn’t want to leave! Haha

Any time I’ve visited for appointments they are always running late, which annoys the hell out of me for many reasons.
The staff are always pleasant so can’t complain there. It’s a hospital that already seems to be grown out of and already expanding from the original building to accomodate the sick kids. it would be great of they have the lauriston building dept and the eye pavillion out here too. Even an audiology dept would be good, saves me going into town.
It seems to look clean, but to enter an entrance that is meant to be strictly smoke free through a smokers cloud makes me scream red.
Car parks are to front and rear and seem to fill up fast.
Need I go on?

i had my son at this hospital by emergency caesarian it went really well the doctors done an amazing job i healed very well but at one time at 5am i was buzzing for my pain killers and no one came after about 10 mins went to find someone but no1 was around 20mins later went back and bussed again when someone finally came i was curled in a ball crying in pain i was not amused but apart from that and the nurse in the nursery were my son was it was fantastic :) xx

I’ve been here twice.
The first time I was at A&E was for a kidney infection. Since I did not yet have NHS I think I was made to pay something like £100 for being a visiting person. Their screening test was pretty weak and they ended up making me take tests repeatedly for several hours (it would have been done a lot faster with the version I’m accustomed to in the states). I was sent home with antibiotics finally, at least.
The second time was for incapacitating sciatica relating to a recent back surgery. The doctor acknowledged the symptoms and pain but could not prescribe what I needed (many meds are not available in the UK that I have current prescriptions for via my US doctors) and rather than hassle with it or even find a replacement, the doctor I was seeing chose to literally give me NOTHING AT ALL along with a recommendation to see a specialist and then falsified the discharge notes and said she had sent me off with pain meds. I know this because I requested a copy of the note to give to my GP. I remained basically on bed rest til I could get to a GP (for several more days) and then til some medicine could kick in. The A&E doctor should have prescribed something. It was really ridiculous of her to send me off like that. It does not take a specialist to prescribe basic anti-​inflammatory or pain medication.
Lame. Between the two visits, I average it all out to pretty sub-​par service.

Cant fault the Staff, but if the Hospital had been designed for the future instead of 1984, then there would at least be parking at 1100hrs…

As a student nurse and an experienced carer I found some good and bad points about my experience. But due to my current feelings I really do feel like I have the highlight the negatives. Recently my father has under went a hip replacement due to being disabled from birth. I found the staff 209 ward very friendly and welcoming but once my father was released I heard a different side to everything. The care given was fantastic but there is a massive communication break down in the hospital. What I found shocking was how you had to pay to watch TV even channels 1 – 5 and they are free. On top of forking out for parking during visiting times. My father found himself repeating everything due to staff not communication effectively. Due to currently undergoing surgery, my father was referred to an occupational therapist who when attempted to assistant with ‘basic exercises’ appeared to ‘run away’ when realizing he was unable to do certain exercises because of his disability and didn’t appear to try and find a way around it. Also my father feels that at times he felt that the carers/​nurses main concerns were the constant shifts they had been given, as apparently that was all that they had gone on about while he was there. As an experience care assistant I myself am used to working 4 12 hour shifts on a trot but that’s life, get on with it! The food didn’t help as well, my father found himself disgusted and put of eating anything when discharged due to being over fed with barely edible food. What I did find shocking was how fast my father was released from hospital. He was given the hip replacement on Thursday and was released on the Monday afternoon. Of course I understand the demand of hospital beds so I wasn’t as taken a back. However come Tuesday morning my father was struggling to breathe, coughing up clotted blood resulting in me calling for an ambulance. Now I am a strong believer that if he had been fully assisted properly on the Sunday/​Monday this would not have happened. Once at the A & E department I was informed I was to go to the Primary Assessment ward. When I got there, I struggled to find the main reception area to find no one was even there. When asking a porter to locate someone for me, I found my dad in this horrible ward where I felt like patients were just left here and there. I tried to make eye contact with the doctors and felt completely ignored to find my dad left behind a curtain after searching for him. After many hours waiting he was finally seen to. When returning to the ward from the x ray department, I found myself becoming more and more annoyed with the service and treatment provided. One man who appeared to be suffering from a urinary infection was left in the middle of the floor, almost falling over the bed railings. When another family asked a young nurse if this ward was given meals due to their grandmother being hungry her response was ‘We do but I don’t have time to dish out meals or even teas or coffees’ then further responded that if the patient wanted something they would have to do it. But what shocked me the most was what I soon was to experience. When the nurse, just recently mentioned, was given my father his discharge letter, I thought that it was in my duty to simple request if the man who was practically falling over the railings if he could get a pillow due to his right arm becoming red raw from leaning over the metal railings. I explained that I am an experience carer and asked nicely to be given a very rude and abrupt response of ‘Don’t tell me how to do my job.’ If I thought I would get that response I wouldn’t have bothered. I was so mad that I was very close to issuing a complaint but I didnt catch her name. I understand that NHS staff are under pressure and poorly staffed but some staff really need to sort their attitude problems out. With being a student nurse, I soon learned my lesson to keep my thoughts to myself and I hope when I’m under pressure I wont be delivering the same sort of care like what I received today.

my boyfriend went into a&e here last week and the staff were amazing, couldn’t have asked for better, i was really worried and upset and they calmed me down and moved him to the western general smoothly and quick

Whilst the hospital may be new it doesn’t seem to have been built to size! The A&E dept definitely should have been at least double the size it is! Having spent the nearly 6 hours with my dad waiting to be assessed I felt a bit like a pawn in a game if chess! He was quickly put onto a trolley however has been moved so many times between bays and different parts if the corridor I’m surprised the staff manage to keep up with who’s where! Space is definitely at a premium!
Whilst my visit was on a Monday (thankfully not the weekend) the staff are still run off their feet but god bless them all really cheery and polite — despite some of the challenging behaviours from what appears to be the ‘regulars’! My top tip would to avoid having an accident or emergency at the weekend or a Monday morning!

My father also has the misfortune to be there just now. As he is elderly just ignore them seems to be the order of the day in there. needs help due to amputation.
Yesterday my mother found him sitting on the toilet with all his clothes lying in a pool of water, no nurses anywhere to be seen. Room disgusting, they can’t even be bothered to lift the old bloody bandages form his wound, it begs the question why bother doing this job if you hate it that much.
Food is also inedible, he has lost so much weight. He now is so depressed and disorientated.
I must say during his recent stay in the Astley Ainslie hospital he was putting on weight, not to mention his overall happiness, this was obviously due to the friendliness and professionalism of the nurses and the food being prepared.
Slowly becoming so dissapointed with this hospital, they even have the cheek to charge huge amounts of money to park your car.
I have loads more to tell but would be here all day.

Just spent four days having a total knee replacement. surgeon brilliant, nursing staff very good, food appalling and generally inedible and cleanliness very good. Having said all that listening skills need improvement. Communication generally not good and not to be relied upon. Found many conversations had to be repeated with day and night staff. The night before my discharge I was transferred to a ward which would not have been out of place behind the iron curtain of the 60s and the care was only slightly better than my surroundings suggested I should expect. My consultant had trouble finding me as did my physio. The transfer, I was told, was because of emergency admissions. No one being able to find me was due to the appalling lack of organisation and communication. Pity to spoil what could have been a reasonable experience with this eleventh hour debacle.

I found the standard of care to be poor beyond belief. I had to wait 4 days in agony to have appendicitis diagnosed despite classic symptoms and a letter to that effect from my GP. By the time I was operated on my appendix had ruptured and I had peritonitis, a blood clot and liver damage and required open surgery. After surgery I did not receive adequate pain relief which was the worst experience of my life! Some of the nurses were kind but the ones that were not were downright rude and cruel. I was too scared to complain and was so glad to escape.

I still laugh every time I remember my visit here. The first time my then boyfriend was cooking dinner for me, he managed to cut the end of his finger off whilst trying to impress me with how fast he could chop stuff, the way chefs do it on TV. Only he’s not a professional chef.
Anyway, we got here at about 10pm, and I can safely say it was the most mind-​numbingly boring 3 and a half hours of my entire life. There weren’t even enough seats for people to wait on, there was no screen with the queueing system on it like in any other hospitals I’ve been in, and there wasn’t even anything in the vending machine apart from a Bounty — the pigeon of the chocolate bar world, and even that cost me 70p.
Grumble over, when we were eventually seen the doctor was great. In fact, we were on our way out less than 20 minutes later with plenty of instructions for the after-​care and how to replace the dressings etc. Although it was nice of him to tell us not to hesitate to come back if it got infected or anything, I can safely say if that had been the case then I would not have been doing the dutiful girlfriend thing and tagging along again. Yes I’m aware that this makes me sound like a complete b*tch, but there is nothing in this world I would like to do less.

Reviewing a hospital seems kind of odd, but there is a category for it so I will go for it,
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh moved to this new location in 2003 and is quite a modern hospital. I have been here on two occasions. Once my flatmate had suspected meningitis and was rushed to the Urgent Care department where she was treated very well.
The second occasion was a few Friday nights ago. Poor me was all ill and feeling sorry for myself and NHS 24 sent me here at 2 am. My lovely boyfriend got up and drove me here with the help of google maps. MISTAKE. This A&E department on a Friday night somewhat resembles a Jeremy Kyle audition. Out of 20 people in the waiting room (some who were there with their mates because that’s the cool thing to do), I was the only sober person who was actually ill. Everyone else was drunk or had been drinking and were there as a result of a fight or a drunken accident. It was quite appalling and the people in here were real bottom feeders. Eye contact: not recommended.
I waited here 3 hours. Yes 3 hours because Davey and John Paul punched each others lights out, or Chantelle was so drunk she fell on some glass. There was more police here than doctors, that gives an indication of the type of people and behaviour that go on in this A & E department. It is very sad and gives a true indication of this country. Where is the policy in this Gordon and David?
When I eventually saw the doctor he was great. Filled me with drugs and was very helpful. I actually felt sorry for the guy having to deal with this every Friday/​Saturday night. He apologised to me for having to wait so long and said it was due to all the drunken fools in the waiting area (not in those words of course). My boyfriend commented on how awful it was and the doctor threw his hands up and said ”this is my life!” Kudos to him because I doubt I could be motivated to come to work and deal with that every night.
Obviously if you are ill and need hospital attention you aren’t going to check up on Unilocal for reviews on the local hospitals. Just be mindful of the fact that on a Friday/​Saturday night between 12 am and 4 am you will have to wait for all the drunken chavs in Edinburgh to be bandaged up.

According to my aged parent, whom I’m visiting regularly at the moment, the food for patients is excellent (though his appetite is suppressed due to morphine, and it appears there is not much effort made by staff to ensure patients actually eat the food). Still, the staff seem lovely.
However, because I work, I’ve been visiting him between 6:30 and 8pm, and by the time I arrive at the hospital the only place left open in the mini-​mall is a WHSmith with the tail-​end of the day’s sandwiches (and expensive, mass-​produced offerings they are) — and by the time I leave, not even that. There doesn’t seem to be any concern for how visitors fare, yet in order to get there from my work I have to leave not long after 5pm, and I don’t get home till about 9pm. That’s a long evening without something to eat — I’ve taken to packing my own snack.
Thanks for the tip (above) that there’s a staff canteen on the 2^nd floor — now to find out if a visitor can use it!

I’ve been to the A&E here briefly once when I fell on the ice. I found the staff to be quick and efficient, but almost to the point of being brusque. They made me feel guilty for coming in when my injury turned out not to be severe.
I found the facilities fairly clean and modern, although I recall that the waiting room chairs were not comfortable. The toilets seemed very small and cramped to service a whole A&E.
I think, given a choice, I’d prefer to go to Western General rather than here.

I’ve spend a lot of time in this place (dialysis and transplant),
and there are good and bad points. The staff are great and the interior is nice with carpeted halls, there is a small shopping area which is good for distraction for a while but becomes stale fast. There is also a public café in the lobby — top tip use the staff café on the second floor or the main canteen (vending machines for nighttime munchies). The thing I hate is the parking charges. On dialysis you get free parking but daily /​weekly visits to the transplant unit soon add up. £2.30 per visit if your quick. The private company that build it installed bedside TV and phone facilities which is great, but the cost can mount up fast (prepay card system). After much complaint they agreed to waive the cost in the dialysis unit.
What I really hate is that cleaning services are tendered out via the PFI. The cleaning standards are low, very low. In the transplant unit where everybody is immunosuppressed a dirty toilet shared by four people can be lethal. As a otherwise healthy 35 year old I aquired infection after infection. I almost lost the kidney that my brother had been nice enough to give me and a 5 day stay turned into 5 weeks.
Hopefully you won’t have to go anywhere near these places but a word of warning. Never go to casualty unless you have body parts hanging off. Even then try the minor injury outpatient at the Western General Hospital!