Epsom and St Helier hospitals are urging people to get behind an initiative asking for patient feedback so it can improve its services.

The trust is encouraging patients, visitors and members of the public to join its Patient First programme.

The hospitals serve a population of more than 420,000 people and the trust said it is "vital that its patients and local people can have their say and help to shape services".

A spokesman said: "The focus of this campaign is to always put ourselves in our patients’ shoes to see how we can continually improve.

"We hope that each person joining the Patient First programme will give us honest and frank feedback about the things that we do, and in return, we promise to share the results in our regular newsletters and to let them know how their feedback is being used to change or improve the services we provide. 

"They will also be able to become involved in some of our upcoming improvement projects, such as a significant programme to improve the way people can navigate our hospitals."

The hospitals introduced Nurse in Charge badges as a result of the first wave of the Patient First programme, when feedback from patients showed they were having trouble identifying lead nurses.

People who sign up to the programme will receive a monthly newsletter dedicated to the Patient First programme, will be notified of special listening events and will earn the title of #esthchampion.

If you are on Twitter use the hashtag #esthchampion to keep up with the latest news on the programme.