Volunteers from London Metropolitan University are visiting local health centres on behalf of Healthwatch

Three health and social care students from our local university are working with us to investigate how easy it is to access local community health services. Shabiha, Eunice, and Maseray developed their own survey questions to capture people's experiences of booking or changing an appointment, of phoning the central booking line, and of using hospital transport.

Last week they put their survey to the test at the Bingfield and Holloway Community Health Centres. They gathered lots of great feedback:

• One patient who had attended the wrong centre by mistake wondered if a map could be included when the appointment letter gets sent out.
• Those patients that received text message reminders were very positive about them.
• One patient said that they could end up waiting an hour after their appointment for hospital transport to pick them up and take them home. They felt that was too long.

The students are developing their interviewing skills and getting a better understanding of how patient feedback is used to evaluate and improve services. They are visiting the River Place, Goodinge, Highbury Grange, and Hornsey Rise Health Centres this week.