SOME ambulance patients will be asked to fill out diaries during their trip to hospital, in a bid to capture comprehensive information about NHS services in East Lancashire.

The month-long scheme is set to be introduced by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), but will also be used to gather thoughts on the outpatient services at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

NWAS will be asking non-emergency patients who regularly use its Patient Transport Service to make hand-written notes about booking their transport, their journey to hospital, and their hospital clinic experience.

It will help bosses discover the knock-on effects of a patient being picked up early or late for their appointment, for example, and should help them find ways to improve the service.

Sarah Faulkner, director of quality at NWAS, said: “Listening to what our patients have to say in the diaries and learning from their experiences will provide us with a rich source of information over a period of 28 days.

For the first time, this will give us a complete view of the service from booking through to the hospital appointment.”

The programme will start later this month and run through to September.

It will involve patients who are attending hospital appointments regularly at Royal Blackburn Hospital as well as Cumberland Infirmary, Southport Hospital, Royal Lancaster Hospital and the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

The trust is also in the process of seeking approval from other hospitals in the North West area.

For more information, email the Patient Experience team at talktous@nwas.nhs.uk.