Sutton Bridge and Long Sutton area patients' views on communication sought by hospital

A hospital caring for more than 330,000 people across three counties is launching a new campaign to improve its communication and it needs your help.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust in King’s Lynn wants to find out how people would like to hear about:

• Their care and appointments;
• What format they would like those appointments to take, such as face-to-face, telephone or video;
• How they would like to hear about hospital news and information;
• How patients and their families can have their say on any changes and developments within the trust.

It is working with Healthwatch Norfolk on the study, which will see people across West Norfolk, South Lincolnshire and North East Cambridgeshire invited to fill in a survey to get their views.

The Healthwatch Norfolk team will also be heading out into the community to get feedback from voluntary groups, representatives, and students to ensure comments from people of all ages and backgrounds are considered.

All the findings, which will be anonymised, will form part of a report which will be published in the New Year.

As well as being available for anyone to read, it will also be used by senior managers at the trust to shape its future and help it enhance the way it engages with communities.

It links in with the trust’s key priority of ensuring it improves both the patient experience and the quality of care it gives.

Alice Webster, chief nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with Healthwatch Norfolk and to have this opportunity to genuinely understand what our communities would like their experiences to be.

"The Trust is committed to improving clinical outcomes and achieving its ambition to become the best rural district general hospital for patient and staff experience.

Alex Stewart, chief executive of Healthwatch Norfolk, said: "Healthwatch Norfolk is delighted to be working with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and recognises that in order to continue striving for continuous improvement, the hospital is actively engaging with the public across the whole community.

"This includes young people, those with disabilities and those with dementia along with their families and carers in how they would like to be communicated with about their health."