Victoria Medical Centre
153A Victoria Drive, Eastbourne, BN20 8NHContact details and opening times
Patient ratings and reviews
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Reviews
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Review titled Worrying
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Sue Kimberley - Posted on 07 December 2023
My husband is 'vulnerable' and monitored on account of two health issues. We try to consider and help to maximise NHS resources. He needed an urgent GP appt today. At 09.00 hrs he paid to park in the Beacon (It's the VMC branch nearest us, and childcare responsibilities prevented him going earlier.) No appts available. Was advised to go to Old Town VMC to ask. (To go? Don't they have an internal phone line?) Fortunately we have a car. He went. No appts available. Was told to go to Beacon practice at 08.00 hrs tomorrow to ask again. (Childcare responsibilities tomorrow? What if 'urgent' meanwhile becomes 'critical'?) I know they're short of doctors since COVID. (Did so many registered GPs succumb to the virus?) It just seems that, while the staff I have met at VMC are pleasant, the system is not set up to always consider patients' wellbeing, which ultimately impacts on their health and NHS resources.
Visited December 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 08 December 2023
Good morning Sue, Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your encounter to our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your encounter with our Practice and can sympathise with you and your husbands frustration. Upon reading your comment it does seem that you/your husband were incorrectly care navigated and provided the wrong information by the staff you encountered and for this we would like to apologise. Our branch site works off of the same system as our main surgery in Victoria Drive so the staff sadly should not have advised you to drive up to Victoria Drive. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Thank you for 50 years of magnificent service
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 14 April 2025
Dear doctors/nurses/administrative staff and anybody else I may have inadvertently missed. I was suffering from severe anxiety around December 2023. This caused severe dyspnea, a very unpleasant medical term derived from Greek meaning shortness of breath. Because I didn’t realise at the time my condition was largely caused by an overactive central and automatic nervous system I ended up in the Eastbourne DGH A&E several times. To cut a long story short after several months they diagnosed paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. I have essential inherited hypertension from my mother whom also had it and lived to nearly 94. When I visited the surgery in December 2023 I saw several different doctors. Without exception these medical Good Samaritans treated me with highest standards of medical treatment and professional courtesy. My blood pressure is now truly excellent and well controlled thanks to the marvels of modern medicine and to be quite my atrial fibrillation seems to have either greatly improved or disappeared. A friend of mine, formerly qualified NHS Senior Nurse at the now closed old Eastbourne St Mary’s Hospital took my pulse last week that registered 64 beats per minute. Not bad for a senior 64 year old. I think this is largely down to the relatively new Beta Blocker Bisoprolol. I regularly have my blood pressure reviewed by the doctors, nurses and pharmacists at the surgery and if I lapse or forget they either send me letters by post or texts. Having been a patient first with the Green Street Practice and now subsequent Victoria Medical Centre my family and I have nothing but gratitude to express. The health scare I suffered in December 2023 and subsequent full support I received following this episode is testimony to the wonderful doctors and other staff at Eastbourne Victoria Medical Centre. I am due to make a follow-up appointment today. Finally it is a pity one is not allowed to name all the doctors I encountered over the last half a century. All I can say on behalf of my family and I is thank you all including all other staff and may God bless you all.
Visited December 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 14 April 2025
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your encounters with our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are very pleased you've had a positive experience and will pass on your kind comments to the team.
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Review titled Worst practice in Eastbourne
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 27 October 2023
It is impossible to get an appointment, takes at least 40 minutes to get through and then you get disconnected or all appointments are gone. Queuing in the morning before 8am does not help at all- 20 people in front of you, before you get to the reception all appointments are gone. Also I feel very uncomfortable being asked in detail!!! by a receptionist why I want to see my GP. The receptionists are not medical professionals, they are not entitled to know about my health problems. Also it feels to me like the receptionists are trying rather to fob patients off than help. When suffering from a very bad sciatica, my husband (who is a doctor himself) was asking the receptionist to pass on a short letter about my condition to my GP to be told by a very abrupt and unkind receptionist, that it is impossible! she simply refused to take the letter and advised to book an urgent appointment the following day. There is not enough staff at the downstairs reception to deal with enquiries. Often - even if promised to get a phone call from the GP it does not happen. I had to have some tests done privately, I took them to the practice to get only a message from them that I should book an appointment with my GP. I tried but it is simply impossible! I keep running in circles. There is no facility to book an appointment in advance either online, by phone or in person. You cannot email the surgery directly. I am very frustrated and disappointed with the service.
Visited October 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 08 November 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your experience with our Practice. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your experience with our Practice. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Great experience
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 22 January 2024
Receptionist was friendly, the GP I saw was absolutely fantastic and very thorough, nurse that did my bloods was lovely. Only negatives I can say were the wait time for my appointment but it also wasn’t an emergency so that was fine. Very good experiences within the last few months
Visited October 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 23 January 2024
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your encounter to our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are very pleased your encounter was a positive experience and will pass on your kind comments to the team. We continuously review our wait times for appointments and appreciate your feedback, there are a multitude of options available to patients to obtain an appointment and that does include the following: - Calling the Practice at 8am on the day the appointment is required on 01323 407900 - Via our Practice website: www.victoriamedicalcentre.co.uk - Engage consult: https://victoriamedicalcentre.co.uk/online-consultations/ - NHS Patient access app: www.patientaccess.com - Pre-booking planned appointments in advance - Emergency on the day Duty GP appointments (emergency presentations)
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Review titled Appointment Prevention Squad
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Sheena - Posted on 11 October 2023
Filled out a message online and got a physio appointment straight away - great I was told to get a doctor’s appointment Like an id***, I went downstairs expecting great things. No I was met by the appointment prevention squad. Told me appointments in November or ring up at 8am. I generally don’t sleep until 6am but no joy. Was then told to go to pharmacy reference angry looking bite. They were very good but suspect it’s infected. Got to take photos to see if it gets worse Comments please!!
Visited October 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 17 October 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your visit to our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your encounter with our Practice. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Understaffed and broken
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 28 October 2023
I am very disappointed with the service I received from this medical practice. I have been suffering from ear issues for a while and I needed to speak to a doctor urgently. However, I could not get a call back from them despite leaving several messages. I also tried to book an appointment online, but they were always full within minutes of opening at 8am. This is very unprofessional and unacceptable. I feel that this practice has taken on too many patients and cannot provide adequate care for them. They should either hire more staff or limit their intake of new patients. I do not recommend this practice to anyone who needs timely and quality medical attention.
Visited October 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 08 November 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your experience with our Practice. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your experience with our Practice. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Appointment
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Sarah Scott - Posted on 19 October 2023
You just can't get an appointment here...you call at 8 with at least 20+ more people in front of you so by the time you get someone to answer the phone there is never ever any appointments left..you can't book in advance to see your doctor..call backs hardly ever get made...
Visited September 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 08 November 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your experience with our Practice. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your experience with our Practice. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Brilliant practice
Rated 5 stars out of 5
by Jonathan - Posted on 16 August 2023
Receptionists are practitioners are always very friendly and understanding both over the phone and in person. Have been going in for mental health related services over the last few months, and whilst at first I was apprehensive; the staff here at Victoria medical centre are so accommodating and sympathetic, it's really helped me get going in the right direction.
Visited August 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 22 August 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your encounters with our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are very pleased your encounters have been a positive experience and will pass on your kind comments to the team. Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Survival of the fittest!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 21 August 2023
I have never in my life known it to be so difficult to get an appointment with a GP. You have to queue up in the morning, by 7.30am there was already 10 people in front of me. I was told to ring when it opens at 8, but when I tried that I was 23rd in queue. When the doors open you either walk into reception or go to upstairs reception and people from behind me literally ran past me to get upstairs first (obviously more experienced dealing with this place). You can only get an appointment on the same day so if you aren't lucky enough, you have to go through the same rigmarole tomorrow. God knows what people do who aren't physically able to get there, stand for an hour in the queue etc. Admin are like the "computer says no" woman from Little Britain. When you do get an appointment, you can't choose the time so if you want to see someone face to face, you will likely have to take the whole day off work unless you have the flexibility to pop out for an hour as you can't plan ahead. This place is absurd, bordering on laughably bad but it's no laughing matter when we're dealing with people who are sick. Shame on you Vic Medical Practice, nothing super about this super clinic at all.
Visited July 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 22 August 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your encounter with our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your encounters with our Practice. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team
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Review titled Phone systems cut you off!
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Anonymous - Posted on 20 June 2023
This morning got though to recorded message 4 times only to be cut off when I press 1 for appointments. This has happened ever time over the last couple months. I have mentioned this to receptionists and the doctor. This is not due to staff shortages, this is technical problem with the phone system and should be fixed. By the time you get to speak to a receptionist you are in a very frustrated mood and highly stressed. Fix Your Phone System!
Visited June 2023
Review titled Victoria Medical Centre
Replied on 08 August 2023
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback on your encounter with our centre. We value all comments from patients to help us review and improve our service. We are sorry you were dissatisfied with your encounter with our Practice. If you would like to discuss this matter further please do contact us via our surgery complaints inbox on sxicb-esx.vmccomplaints@nhs.net so we can investigate your concerns in more detail Kindest regards, Compliance Team