Darlington Memorial Hospital - Darlington

Sheila Greenwood

It is 5 .00am in the early hours of New Years Eve...
I have been here with my husband in Accident and Emergency since 8.30pm last night.
Would I wish for speedier treatment..absolutely...
However, I have to say that we could not have received more caring treatment from anywhere.
The staff are, without exception, absolutely wonderful....led by a brilliant A & E manager, who at 4 O'clock this morning made coffees for each of us ,while we are waiting to see the on duty doctor .
He provided us with a separate area to wait due to my husbands extremely compromised immune system.
Honestly, the staff at Darlington Memorial definitely get 10 out of 10 from me.
Sheila Greenwood

Tatiana D.

My mom was here twice last summer. She needed to get checked out and have her medication adjusted. I am so grateful for the support we have received. I want to say thank you to every single member of the team. You are the best!!!

Ben Hooson

If you can go to another hospital I'd recommend you do, this place looks like it's falling down, and was not clean enough. The standard of care on a Sunday was poor, bordering on negligent.
Things getting missed, taking hours, meds not given on time, a and e full with beds in corridors, and then when Monday came round, the standard of care didn't really improve.
I will be avoiding this place, it just doesn't feel safe.

Lindsey Dunn

Darlington memorial hospital!! 9th November 24
I’ve just spent 8 hours in A&E with my mum (who is fine now) this is thanks to the caring staff from the tea lady who gave me a cuppa and a sandwich.
The nurses and doctors. They were all caring and compassionate towards mums needs. The department was very clean too.

I’ve read terrible reviews however this was not my experience. Can only sing their praises!! Thanks so much ?

Bergrun Dogg

I was transferred to Darlington Memorial Hospital as a patient and at first it was looking very promising as my case was a very urgent one. However, as my case became less urgent I received worse service. I was told that I need to stay one night as they needed to get glucose into my blood for 2 hours and then 10 hours and then I would be able to leave in the morning. During the night I was in a lot of pain yet nobody came to check on me until it was time to switch to the 10 hour drip. My poor boyfriend slept on a plastic chair as I was in pain on my small bed. No nurse came in asking how i’m feeling or how my condition was during the entirety of my stay they only asked mandatory questions for their tests. If I would have been dying in there I don’t think they would have had any clue. I had to be the one to ask if they could bring me some plain toast to help with my stomach aches (are they not supposed to be the ones suggesting that instead of me as they are the trained professionals? if I wouldn’t have known that would help, my condition would have been worse. could have done this at home myself if I knew how to insert drip and take blood tests) and the food trolley didn’t even make it’s way down for BREAKFAST until 12:45pm !!! I was transferred to the emergency surgery department and nobody has been able to answer me why I’m here. I sat in the hallway for 5 hours until they could give me a room, my poor boyfriend AGAIN sat on a plastic chair the entire time as he waited with me. While I was sitting in the hallway, my drip emptied and someone refilled it with ANOTHER 10 hour drip. We were so confused as I had already finished all my drip treatments and needed a blood test to know if I needed a new one or not as I was feeling perfectly fine and just needed confirmation from them that I’m doing fine. The nurse said the current one is a temporary one so I can be topped off while I wait for my blood test. She said the doctor would be there in 10 minutes to take my blood test, 3 hours went by and no doctor had came to me sitting in the hallway. I asked another nurse when I’d be able to have a blood test and she said that they were waiting for me to get into the room before I’m able to get a blood test. 2 more hours went by and I was still waiting in the hallway until they finally moved me to a room, misgendered my boyfriend and asked him to not follow us when I had made it very clear to them that I needed him to be with me. When I got to the room I asked the third nurse when they’d take my blood test, then suddenly the answer had changed to “when the drip is done in 7 hours” that’s when me and my boyfriend lost it. We had been thrown all over the hospital for 20 hours and they were making false promises about the process going forward. Nobody would tell us anything no matter what. We asked if we could possibly go for a small walk as I was feeling very overwhelmed. The nurse told me to not leave the assigned bed because the doctor would be there any minute now. The doctor arrived 5 hours later so I was sitting and waiting in my bed when I could have easily went for a small 10 minute walk to ease my mind. I’m very displeased with this service and I will avoid this hospital at all costs.

Paris Kimiaei

Terrible experience as we had to wait a whole day for a doctor to simply take some bloods. My girlfriend got put in a room and was told nothing about what is happening to her for the whole day. no support for the patient or loved ones visiting. you either get a good nurse or one who treats you like a burden. the food is no good, and the lack of care for the patients is what makes this place unbearable.

Tufayl Miah

I feel bad giving it only one star as it's my local hospital and up until recently I have only been to visit the maternity ward for new born babies in the family. My mother was admitted a couple of months ago and the experience was quite sickening. The nurses are of mixed temperaments, some very nice and some rather aloof and that's fair enough. But given that we have a very close knit extended family and friends who were extremely distressed by the news that she is very unwell with limited treatment options, the hospital staff quickly became unaccomodating towards visiting. One even commented that some patients may get upset that you have plenty of visitors and they hardly get anyone coming to see them. We requested a side room, which was given to us after some wait but when my mum had to go back into hospital at the same ward, they did not even make effort to provide a side room despite rooms being available and we meeting the criteria. One head nurse with zero empathy commented that we can't have so many visitors partying - this type of narcissistic remark to a highly distressed situation pretty much sums up the competency of some of the more senior staff working there. We've had several doctors, surgeons and consultants within our circle who have worked at the memorial over the years and they would always describe the hospital as an overall declining facility that requires a major uplift to bring in line with the likes Freeman's, RVI, James Cook etc. I now fully understand their feedback and concur. We really hope that the hospital management recognise that an essential facility like the memorial in the lovely town of Darlington must undergo a major overhaul for the betterment of the deserving local community.

John Green

I've just had a four night stay on ward 43. I can't thank the staff enough for the care they gave me. It's opened my eyes to how hard every one of them work, and the genuine care they give to their patients. They are so understaffed, but they just don't weaken. Thank you so much for everything ❤️