Health and care experiences in New Addington

Executive summary

This insight report is an overview of the outreach with New Addington residents to understand their views and experiences of local health and care services. The NHS South West London engagement team engaged with local residents, community leaders and volunteers at central New Addington community locations to capture a range of insights.

We focussed this work in New Addington as one of Croydon’s Core20 areas where reducing health inequalities is a priority. The purpose was to understand residents’ experiences of local health and care services as well as to ensure residents were involved during the development of the plans for the new health centre in New Addington.

Across the three days of outreach between March and April 2025, we spoke to a total of 33 local residents, volunteers and community leaders who use and visit community services in New Addington.

Key insights:

• More localised health services – residents emphasised the benefits of services being delivered in the local area. Long travel times to Croydon Hospital combined with the cost of these trips, when the cost of living is already a struggle for many, are barriers to people accessing care. People said accessing services such as MRI scans, X-rays, blood tests, and support for the management of long-term conditions closer to home would increase appointment attendance and overall experience. 
• Feelings of isolation and disconnect in New Addington with people feeling disconnected from services delivered in other parts of Croydon. They feel they cannot access the services that are needed to support their community and their wellbeing needs. As well as the travel issues, people said they much prefer care delivered in a familiar, walkable setting with staff they know and are familiar with. Local services build trust and confidence, especially among older people and those with mental health conditions.
• Dissatisfaction with primary care access and experience – many residents are frustrated with the GP services in New Addington and highlighted long waits for appointments, short appointments and negative experiences with practice staff. This was seen as justification for attending A&E in non-emergency situations for some, while others avoided care altogether.

Next steps: This insight is supporting the New Addington Programme Board with planning and next steps of the health facility.  It will also be shared with the Clinical Director of the Primary Care Network in New Addington for them to consider alongside their patient experience data and with the estates lead to consider lighting and access to the new centre.