People from Portsmouth area needed to take part in study

Queen Alexandra Hospital, run by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, is one of nine sites across the south helping to recruit participants for the study.

It forms part of a national study, led by Dr Joanne Turnbull and colleagues at the University of Southampton’s faculty of health sciences, to help find out more about the use of out-of-hours GPs, minor injuries units, walk-in centres, 111, ambulance services and A&E.

Dr Gemma McKenna, who is helping with the study, said: ‘We are doing this research to find out what people think about urgent and emergency care services in England and how and why they use them.

‘The NHS offers a range of different urgent and emergency services and research suggests people can be confused by what different services offer and how and when to access them.

‘We are hoping that understanding patients’ choices will help the NHS manage services better for patients.’

The researchers are looking to talk to 100 people about their experiences.

Anyone interested can call (023) 8059 8841 or email [email protected]