Collington Surgery - GP Visits Project

As part of our annual work plan, we have been working with GP practices across East Sussex to support and enable practice staff and Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) to hear what is working well and what may benefit from change.
 

This report draws together the findings from our activity with Collington Surgery, Bexhill.

We found:

• In general, the four practice sites are well maintained, accessible and clear to navigate for patients, although variation in the layout in some of the branches may vary patient experience. 
• Concerns were raised by patients about the triage process and the feeling of being pushed to digital and the difficulties they face when making appointments, as well as long waits for appointments. 
• From our conversations with patients, it is clear there is confusion relating to the role of Vita Healthcare and that all four branches now fall under the umbrella of Collington Surgery. This confusion may also be furthered by the website and the different ways that it references the practice and branches.
• Feedback from patients during the visits generally indicated positive experiences of the staff encountered. 
• Throughout all our activity we found limited information on how patients can provide feedback to the practice. 

Read our full report with all of our findings, conclusions and recommendations for improvement and also includes a response from Vita Healthcare, the practices GP partnership and leadership team below. 

What did we do

During June and July 2026, our staff and volunteers undertook: 

• Visits to the four surgery sites at Collington, Sea Road, Pebsham and Ninfield to carry out observations of accessibility and the environment from a patient-perspective
• Conversations with the practice staff and PPG members to understand their priorities
• Conversations with patients about what worked well and what needed to change
• Mystery shopping of the practice’s website and phone messages to review information sharing

Next steps 

Our report will also be shared with Healthwatch England to support national learning and NHS Surrey and Sussex who commission GP services locally.

Throughout 2026 and 2027 we will be carrying out more activity like this with other GP practices across East Sussex. 

We will also continue to work with the GP practices involved in the project to support  implementation of our recommendations and other priorities and opportunities identified through the process.