Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

they don't even know what chronic regional pain syndrome is in 2023. that causes withheld medication to patients that are in chronic pain making their condition far worse and in some cases can be life threatening. nursing is supposed to be a professional job caring for the vulnerable yet their are are far too many uncaring nurses in that hospital who are unprofessional.

I want to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all the staff and volunteers at the edinburgh royal infirmary.
They have all worked amazingly to help look after and support my family this month.
This month has been difficult and having spent most of it going to visit a family member in hospital I have a much better understanding and appreciation of all the work the the staff do there. Especially the nurses on wards 102, 111 and 112. They are always cheerful, kind, welcoming and professional.
Its such a great feeling knowing such brilliant people are out there looking after your loved ones.

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 Yelp 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.

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

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 cafe, 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 wife received absolutely excellent care in the cardiac wards here in June 2019. We were visiting Scotland and ended up in Edinburgh before returning home to the U.S., when she suddenly went into cardiac arrest on High Street. After being revived by medics who happened to be nearby and an able ambulance team, she was whisked to the Royal Infirmary where she ultimately spent 8 days in treatment. The doctors and nursing staff were uniformly professional, capable, knowledgeable and congenial, and her care was superb. (And a special note of thanks to Drs Denvir and Grubb for their careful and considerate attention and care!) To be sure, it is a hospital and not a vacation resort, but when one is hospitalized she wants the very best care and attention, which is precisely what my wife received. I would compare the Royal Infirmary favorably with any hospital in the U.S.

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.

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!

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.

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?