Would you like to help
to improve local health services?
Are you a patient, service user or carer and 18 or over?
If so, this could be the opportunity for you
Become a Mystery Shopper
Health services in North Staffordshire and Stoke have begun a Mystery Shopper programme
as part of their joint commitment to improve patient experience.
Mystery Shopper is a customer feedback tool used to assess the quality of services.
We want to recruit existing patients, service users and carers to be Mystery Shoppers
who will be asked to give us feedback on their experience of contact with services
whether it was by telephone, letter or face to face, planned or unplanned.
We want to find out what we are doing well for patients and where we need to do better.
That’s where you come in!
By telling us of your own experience you will be helping us to improve things for everybody.
This leaflet aims to tell you more about how to get involved
and aims to answer some of the questions that you might have.
Mystery Shopper Public Information Leaflet version 2 – issued 20 October 2011
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Shopper?
Mystery Shopper is a way of assessing user experience of healthcare services by getting feedback
from patients, service users or carers.
Am I eligible to be a Mystery Shopper?
If you are 18 or over and live in Stoke on Trent or North Staffordshire and a patient, service user or
carer you are eligible to be a Mystery Shopper
What’s in it for me?
Becoming a Mystery Shopper gives you the chance to be actively involved in shaping local health
services by providing feedback on your experiences. It might also offer you the following
opportunities:

gain new skills, knowledge and experience

develop existing skills and knowledge

enhance your CV

improve employment prospects

meet new people

inform the development of the North Staffs and Stoke Mystery Shopper Programme.

make a difference to your community
What will I have to do?
After you have had contact with a healthcare service, which might be through an appointment, a
letter or phone call, you will give feedback on your experience by completing a simple
questionnaire.
Will I receive training?
All participants will be given training on the role of Mystery Shopper.
Mystery Shopper Public Information Leaflet version 2 – issued 20 October 2011
Will I get paid?
You will get travelling expenses for attending training and Mystery Shopper events.
Refreshments will be provided at all events you attend.
Will my feedback be confidential?
All feedback will be confidential. You will remain anonymous.
What will happen to the results?
Mystery Shopper results will be used to inform health service improvements throughout all NHS
organisations in North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent by revealing and sharing good practice and
where we need to make improvements.
All feedback received will be anonymous so that the person sharing their experiences cannot be
identified.
Is it different from other types of health service feedback that I am asked to give?
Mystery Shopper gives real time feedback just after you have visited a service, made a phone call
or received a letter. Many other methods ask you to recall your thoughts at a later date, often many
months after your experience. This provides less reliable feedback and causes delays in health
services receiving results and taking action.
How much time will it take?
After attending an initial 2-3 hour training session on your role as a Mystery Shopper each
questionnaire will take up to 15 minutes to complete. Help will be available to those needing support
with giving feedback.
Mystery Shoppers will also have the opportunity to attend events to find out more on what we have
learned from their feedback and where we have made changes as a result. The events will help us
to develop the Mystery Shopper programme. The format and time of these events will be influenced
by the Mystery Shoppers themselves.
Mystery Shopper Public Information Leaflet version 2 – issued 20 October 2011
When will I need to do it?
You will Mystery Shop at the time you have contact with health services and complete your
questionnaire immediately or as soon after your experience as possible. You then send your
results either by post or by email and it won’t cost you anything.
Can I use the Mystery Shopper programme to make a complaint about a poor experience?
We want you to tell us about your experience of customer service whether it is something we are
doing well or something where we could do better. Feedback from Mystery Shoppers will not be
treated as a complaint. If you have a poor experience and need to make a complaint you should
raise your concerns immediately by speaking to a member of staff in the department that you have
a concern about or telephone the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) to discuss your
concern.
University Hospital of North Staffordshire PALS – 01782 552814 or 552317
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare PALS – 0800 389 9676
NHS North Staffordshire PALS – 0800 389 8832
NHS Stoke on Trent PALS – 0800 783 2865
Will I have to pretend to be a patient?
You will not need to pretend to be a patient. As an existing patient or carer you will be evaluating
your actual experience of health services at the time you receive them.
Would you like to find out more about Mystery Shopper?
Please contact:
Amanda Boyd
Mystery Shopper Programme Manager
telephone: 01782 652774
mobile: 07545 419441
email: mysteryshopper@northstaffs.nhs.uk
Information available in other formats
This information can be made available to you in another language, large print version, easy read
version, in Braille or in audio.
Please contact Amanda Boyd, Mystery Shopper Programme Manager on 01782 652774.
Mystery Shopper Public Information Leaflet version 2 – issued 20 October 2011