Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Local audit report (lay field audits)

GP Accessibility Visits 2023 (Eastbourne GP surgeries accessibility audits)

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/healthwatch-east-sussex-2024-gp-accessibility/ · record checked 13 October 2026

  • Healthwatch East Sussex
  • Healthwatch East Sussex (reports library of Healthwatch England)

Government (Healthwatch East Sussex, the county's statutory health and social care watchdog; the audits were made by its staff and volunteers, with support from primary care commissioners at NHS Sussex)

Summary

Lay accessibility audits of seven GP surgery sites in Eastbourne in 2023, including hearing loops at reception and portable loops for consultations.

Key findings

  • The staff-knowledge evidence is internally inconsistent: the narrative on printed page 9 says three surgeries with loops reported staff would know how to check operation, while the Reception Area table on printed page 6 records one positive, one partially met, two negative and three not applicable. The report does not reconcile these counts. These categories are defined on printed page 4.
  • Teams of two or three Healthwatch staff and volunteers audited seven surgery sites of five GP practices between July and October 2023 with a checklist, joined by a member of surgery staff or of the patient participation group.
  • Four of the seven sites had hearing loops installed, all four with loop signs in reception, one of them low in contrast and hard to see. Three of the four reported that staff would know how to check that the loop is switched on and working, and only one had procedures in place to check regularly that it is on and working.
  • Only one site had a portable hearing loop available for one-to-one discussion; the checklist asked whether doctors have portable hearing loops for patient appointments, "allowing confidentiality".
  • Recommended hearing loops throughout public areas at every site, portable loops for staff to use in one-to-one conversations, training for all staff in testing that the loop works, a regular testing schedule, and clear signs.

Limits

A pilot of a lay checklist at seven sites in one town, chosen from the practices that replied. The report does not say that loops were measured or tried by hearing aid users, and staff knowledge was as reported by the sites. The report is undated beyond the 2023 visits; Healthwatch England's library lists it on 9 January 2024.

Read the original

nds.healthwatch.co.uk/sites/default/files/reports_library/20240109_ESussex_Eastbourne%20GP%20Accessiblity%20Project.pdf

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Cited in

Cite this source

Healthwatch East Sussex. GP Accessibility Visits 2023 (Eastbourne GP surgeries accessibility audits). Healthwatch East Sussex (reports library of Healthwatch England). 9 January 2024. https://nds.healthwatch.co.uk/sites/default/files/reports_library/20240109_ESussex_Eastbourne%20GP%20Accessiblity%20Project.pdf (accessed 13 October 2026).

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