PATIENTS who visit Colchester's Accident and Emergency department are sent text messages in a bid to help bosses make improvements.

The trust in charge says the move helps it to get a better response rate when seeking feedback.

The messages ask patients how likely they would be to recommend A&E to a friend on a scale of extremely likely to extremely unlikely.

If the patient responds, a second text is sent out asking patients the reasons for their score.

A&E is the only part of the hospital trust where patients' views are sought using text messages as their experience is likely to be brief.

Therefore it is felt they would be more likely to respond when they get back home.

Patients in the department can also fill in a form.

The move, which has been in place at Colchester for about a year, is part of the NHS-wide Friends and Family Test which is mandatory in England.

In March 90 per cent of adults who used Colchester's A&E said they would recommend it to their friends and family.

The trust's target is to get feedback from at least 20 per cent of patients who use it and in March the rate was 19 per cent.

A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust added: “We are committed to seeking the views of our patients and acting on the valuable feedback they give us.

“The NHS Friends and Family Test is just one of the ways we do this and we give patients who use our Emergency Department (A&E) an option to provide feedback by text because we appreciate this may be more convenient for them and will help to generate a better response rate.”

On Tuesday the trust confirmed it had been given a £1million Government boost to improve A&E.

Trust boss Nick Hulme said the cash will help it to make initial improvements by redesigning part of the department.