AMBULANCE staff have been encouraged to give their views on patient services through a social media campaign.

North West Ambulance Service staff can use a secure website to suggest ideas anonymously, to help improve services.

Staff have shared ideas and voted to bring the best ones to the top, and because of anonymity, the best ideas can be seen and heard, regardless of who came up with them.

Sarah Smith, assistant director of corporate communications, said: “Combining staff feedback from this source with the observations, surveys, interviews and focus groups undertaken as part of our wider patient experience programme helps us to gain a complete picture of the services we offer from the patient perspective.

“We can then focus our improvement plans on the areas that matter most.”

Dr Peter Thomond, founder of Clever Together, which developed the website, said: “The work done by the trust has been fantastic – it is a pace-setter and is pioneering a new model for engaging with staff.”