THE Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust is seeking a panel of volunteer readers to help wipe out jargon.

It wants members of the public to check its information leaflets for hospital speak.

To coincide with National HNS Week the Trust is aiming to improve the quality of its services, particularly in the key area of information provided for patients.

Public relations officer, Veronica Swinburne, said: "Healthcare professionals and managers have a tendency to use jargon even when they're writing information for patients.

"We also sometimes forget that things which seem routine to us can be very strange or frightening for a patient.

"By asking volunteers to check our leaflets as we write new ones or reprint old ones, we hope to make sure that they deal with the issues that are really important to people."

The Trust hopes to recruit a list of regular readers who will comment on the contents of leaflets and the way they are written, highlighting technical terms which need explaining and questions which still need answers.

Anyone interested in joining the panel should contact Veronica on 01942-822217.

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