3 April 2009
People all over the world are using the internet to find out more about Epsom and St Helier hospitals.
Since a new website for the trust was launched in February, visitors from as far away as Bolivia, Cambodia and Namibia have logged on to find out more. In March alone 2,299 visitors to the site were not from the UK, and visits came from 114 countries/territories.
The new site got off to a flying start and in the first full month of operating, 25,029 people visited the site. Despite being a new edition to the World Wide Web, 23 per cent of all visitors came to the site more than once. The number of pages that were viewed came to a grand total of 129,599.
People on the move were also keen to log onto the site, with 120 visits coming from iPhones or iPods. 25 people used a Blackberry or other smart phone to look at the site and even eight keen gamers had a look, using their PlayStation 3 to log on.
The new site, which has more than 1,000 pages, includes helpful information about the services on offer, all of the latest news and a history of the hospitals. Patients and visitors can check the website for everything, from what to bring with them to what is available once they're here.
Web manager, Alex Schleif, designed the new website. He said: "The fact that people from all over the world are showing an interest in the work that we do is fantastic. But it's also a great site for local people to use - we're confident that the new website is very helpful for all of our patients, visitors and staff.
"We're really pleased about the popularity of the new site - more and more people are reading about us and our services.
"The feedback that we've had so far has been very positive, but we're keen to keep working on the site and will continue to make improvements to it as and when they are needed. We appreciate everyone's opinion about the site, so we would ask all visitors to the site to rate it."
