![\"Ambulances](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0_SVR-NEC-260826-rvi-ae.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNewcastle hospital patients will notice construction work at the RVI’s emergency department<\/p>\n
Ambulances outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle(Image: NHS)<\/p>\n
New work to transform urgent and emergency care at the Royal Victoria Infirmary<\/a> in Newcastle began on Wednesday. This will build on the recently-opened new urgent treatment centre <\/a>by creating a new “link corridor” connecting it to the existing A&E unit.<\/p>\n There will also be a new ambulance entrance built, along with four extra assessment rooms. The work is expected to take until late December.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “It will also include building a new ambulance entrance and four additional assessment rooms. Work is expected to continue until late December 2026.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n However, bosses at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS<\/a> 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.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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”. <\/a>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”.<\/p>\n 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 \u00a37m expansion of the trust’s Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services.<\/p>\n Hospital bosses reminded the public that for health advice or guidance about which NHS services to use, people can visit 111.nhs.uk<\/a>. Emergency contraception and treatment for urine infections can also now be obtained at a pharmacy.<\/p>\n ChronicleLive has created a dedicated WhatsApp community for breaking news and our biggest stories. You can join this WhatsApp community here<\/a>. It will keep you up-to-date with news as it breaks and our top stories of the day sent directly to your phone.<\/p>\n