Newcastle hospital patients will notice construction work at the RVI’s emergency department
Ambulances outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle(Image: NHS)
New work to transform urgent and emergency care at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle began on Wednesday. This will build on the recently-opened new urgent treatment centre by creating a new “link corridor” connecting it to the existing A&E unit.
There will also be a new ambulance entrance built, along with four extra assessment rooms. The work is expected to take until late December.
In a notice published on Wednesday, hospital bosses said: “Work starts today on the next phase of improving our urgent and emergency care facilities at the RVI. This involves the construction of a permanent link corridor between the urgent treatment centre and the existing emergency department.
“It will also include building a new ambulance entrance and four additional assessment rooms. Work is expected to continue until late December 2026.”
Patients can still access urgent and emergency care via the entrance to the urgent treatment centre – where they will be signposted to appropriate care – and services in both units will operate as normal.
However, bosses at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the hospital added: “There will inevitably be some disruption during this period and potentially longer waiting times. We are working hard to ensure patients continue to receive safe, effective and timely care.”
The hospital trust is reminding people that there are also urgent treatment centres at Ponteland Road in Cowgate and Molineux Street in Byker offering care seven days a week.
The construction work comes as part of a wider revamp of the same day emergency care offering at the RVI. Last month, a hospital trust spokesperson told ChronicleLive how this formed part of a “phased programme of work”. This was said to include “a new Urgent Treatment Centre which opened at the RVI in January and a new triage and assessment space which will be complete this year”.
2027 will also, bosses said, see the emergency department refurbished to increase the number of private cubicles available. Previous Health Secretary Wes Streeting earlier this year announced funding for a £7m expansion of the trust’s Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services.
Hospital bosses reminded the public that for health advice or guidance about which NHS services to use, people can visit 111.nhs.uk. Emergency contraception and treatment for urine infections can also now be obtained at a pharmacy.
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