Listening Tour Area Report: Eastbourne
In 2026, Healthwatch East Sussex spoke to people in Eastbourne about their experiences of health and care services in the area, including how easy they found it to access the right support for them, any particularly good or bad experiences they have had, and what factors they feel most effect their wellbeing.
This report outlines the key findings from this activity:
- Concerns around services over-relying on online and telephone systems for appointment booking, with these methods creating barriers to access for a wide range of people
- People reported being unsure how different healthcare services could support them and how these services could be accessed, with people being unclear on what healthcare services they could self-refer into without visiting their GP practice
- People shared that they felt that different healthcare services were not joined up or communicating with one another effectively, with this having a negative impact on people’s experiences of care, as well as resulting in delays to their treatment
- Beachy Head continues to be a location people travel to when attempting to take their own lives, with a variety of social factors leading people to make these attempts
- Being asked for your preferred name by healthcare services is very valuable, particularly for people identifying as being transgender or non-binary, helping to ensure that people feel their identity is being recognised
Healthwatch will publish a summary report for our 2025/26 Listening Tours later in 2026.
View the report
File download
Listening Tour Area Report: Eastbourne
What is the Healthwatch East Sussex Listening Tour
Our Listening Tour helps us maximise what we hear about people’s health, care and wellbeing across East Sussex.
We use our dedicated survey and stakeholder events to listen to the experiences and views of residents, communities and professionals. The insight we develop is used to:
- Identify where services are working well or where change may be needed, by sharing feedback with commissioners and providers.
- Escalate concerns or issues to decision-makers such as the Health & Wellbeing Board or Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)
- Inform and prioritise future Healthwatch activity and projects
- Support Integrated Community Teams responses to local priorities
To find out more about our Listening Tour please click here.
Help and support with Health and Care
If you need help or support related to health or care, then please contact our Information & Signposting Service via
0333 101 4007 or enquiries@healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk
