South Tyneside District Hospital (Bede Wing)

I was unfortunate enough to be a patient at this horrible place “volunterily” apparently even though I was forced to! My stay was only for a few days but it was the most traumatic experience of my entire life. My admission was handled terribly from start to finish. They mixed my medication up, got information about my condition wrong, made lies up. I was spoken to & treated appalling by the staff & doctors especially Dr Tocca who seemed to take pleasure in belittling me he even made comments on my appearance I was a 20 year old girl with a mental illness! it was completely inappropriate/unprofessional to comment on things like how I looked/dressed etc! Most of the time I was just left to my own devices without anything to do or anyone to look after me. Luckily my family visited me every visiting time to make sure I was ok if they hadn’t been so vocal about the injustice of my unnecessary admission I would probably have ended up being forced to stay longer. Years later I’m still absolutely traumatised by the humiliating degrading treatment I received! I’ve heard that Bede wing is now closed hopefully it will stay that way!

This was a nightmare admission where initial admission policies and procedures were ignored. Doctor Tocca was an arrogant man who took little notice of the views of family members. My family member has never recovered from their stay at this unit - wrong meds strategy etc. Had other pressing family crises not occurred at the same time, Bede Wing would have been receiving a formal complaint made to the highest level. The only positive comment would be the cleanliness of the place. Avoid.

I met Dr Tocca in a professional capacity hence am unable to comment on aspects of clinical care. However, the venue was fine and the secratrial staff curteous and very helpful

Good caring staff. Clean facilities

99% of the staff there are great, the wing is clean and tidy, they have lots of things to ocupy you etc. top marks for bede wing 1.