DOCTORS, nurses and support staff at Basingstoke hospital will today suggest changes on how to improve the NHS.

The action is part of the national NHS Change Day, when staff pledge to change one thing about how they work to make a difference to patients.

Suggestions at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Basingstoke, Andover and Winchester, include encouraging colleagues to give blood and simplifying language.

Melissa Way, senior operational services manager at the trust, will ask colleagues to spend their lunch breaks with dementia patients. 

She said: “It would give the patients some company and cheer their day. Staff will benefit too – sitting with dementia patients and talking with them will give our colleagues a better understanding of the challenges they face and a better idea of how to help them overcome them.”