THE trust that manages Okehampton hospital has become one of the first in the country to launch a mystery shopper scheme for patients to give feedback about its services.

Working in partnership with independent charity the Patients' Association, the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust is looking for current and prospective patients to evaluate their experience of using its services.

Patients are asked to record their thoughts and experience as they go through each stage of their care. The feedback will be collated and made anonymous by the Patients' Association, before being analysed by the trust and used to help improve its services.

A Patients' Association representative will debrief the mystery shopper, receive the feedback and ensure the right clinicians and teams in the trust get to hear what the person thought of their service.

Patients will be offered the opportunity to be filmed or recorded so staff can hear the patient's story in their own words. All patients are welcome to join in, whether they are an inpatient, day case, outpatient or receiving care from the Trust's community teams.

Carolyn Mills, the trust's director of nursing, said: 'We consider patients to be experts by experience. Our staff are proud of the high quality of services we provide and our patients and their families frequently tell us how much they appreciate the care they receive, but we know we can always do better.

'This mystery shopper scheme will be a very useful took to gather patient feedback, which will help with our long-term aim to improve our services.'

Mystery shoppers must be 18 or over, live in Devon and be current or potential patients, carers, staff or users of health services from the trust. They will be invited to attend network events, where they can find out what has happened as a result of their feedback.

Lynn Dunne, South West regional manager for the Patients' Association, said: 'We are pleased to be collaborating with Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust in this mystery shopper scheme, which will provide valuable feedback for the Trust from patients and carers.

'The Patients' Association occupies a unique position that enables patients and their carers to talk to us openly and in confidence about their health and social care experiences, which we can then feed back to the various organisations who work with us to influence service improvements.

'Our motto is 'Listening to Patients, Speaking up for Change' – we have 50 years of experience in doing this successfully and developing patient care as a result.'

Anyone interested in becoming a mystery shopper or learning more about becoming a Patients' Association ambassador can call Lynn Dunne on 07527 362107 or e-mail [email protected]">[email protected]