The Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) will be carrying out research this week to find out exactly what the public thinks of both King Edward VII and St. Brendan's hospitals. The objective of the research is to find out current perceptions of the hospital, what people think the hospital does well and which areas the community thinks the hospital needs to improve. Those surveyed will also be asked how they find out about hospital developments and how they would like to get information in the future. The research began on Monday and will take about a week to complete. Total Marketing and Communications, a local research company that has specific healthcare research experience, will carry it out. The research will be conducted by telephone with 400 Bermuda residents (18 years and older) with a set of questions that are designed to last approximately 12 minutes.

BHB chairman Jonathan Brewin said: "When the new Board was appointed, we made a pledge to open our communications with the public. The results of this research will enable us to find out exactly what the public thinks about the hospitals' strengths as well as the areas they think we need to improve.

"We will review how we address the issues and how we might better communicate with the public. I encourage all those who are telephoned to give us their full and frank opinion."

BHB chief executive officer Joan Dillas Wright said the information gathered will help in the formulation of a public relations campaign for the hospitals.

"We want to find out directly from the public what information they expect from the hospital and how we might improve our communications with them." she said.

"We plan to repeat the research on a regular basis so that we can measure the change in perception levels. This will help us develop a more accurate communications strategy."

The survey was pre-tested during the week of June 30 to ensure that the structure, wording, length and question sequence were appropriate.

The survey will be programmed for computer-assisted-telephone interviewing (CATI) that will allow better sample management and quality control.