diff --git a/src/octosuite/core/github.py b/src/octosuite/core/github.py
index 062e00c..83b8bb4 100644
--- a/src/octosuite/core/github.py
+++ b/src/octosuite/core/github.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class GitHub:
             return response
 
         if response.status_code == 200:
-            sanitised = self._sanitise_response(response=response.json())
+            sanitised = self.sanitise_response(response=response.json())
 
             # Cache the successful response
             if use_cache:
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class GitHub:
 
             # Only cache if entity exists (status 200)
             if response.status_code == 200:
-                sanitised = self._sanitise_response(response.json())
+                sanitised = self.sanitise_response(response.json())
                 self.cache.set(url, sanitised)
                 return True
 
@@ -85,11 +85,11 @@ class GitHub:
         except requests.RequestException:
             return False
 
-    def _sanitise_response(self, response: t.Union[dict, list]) -> t.Union[dict, list]:
+    def sanitise_response(self, response: t.Union[dict, list]) -> t.Union[dict, list]:
         pattern = re.compile(r"https://api\.github\.com")
 
         if isinstance(response, list):
-            return [self._sanitise_response(response=item) for item in response]
+            return [self.sanitise_response(response=item) for item in response]
 
         if isinstance(response, dict):
             keys_to_remove = [
@@ -103,6 +103,6 @@ class GitHub:
             # Recursively clean nested dicts/lists
             for key, value in response.items():
                 if isinstance(value, (dict, list)):
-                    response[key] = self._sanitise_response(response=value)
+                    response[key] = self.sanitise_response(response=value)
 
         return response
diff --git a/src/octosuite/core/models.py b/src/octosuite/core/models.py
index b32139c..d7aa6bf 100644
--- a/src/octosuite/core/models.py
+++ b/src/octosuite/core/models.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from requests import exceptions
+
 from .github import GitHub, BASE_URL
 
 github = GitHub()
@@ -14,28 +16,25 @@ class GitHubEntity:
 
     def exists(self) -> tuple[bool, dict]:
         """Check if the entity exists on GitHub."""
-        _type = None
-        kwargs = {}
+        # Check cache first
+        cached = github.cache.get(self.endpoint)
+        if cached is not None:
+            return True, cached
 
-        if isinstance(self, User):
-            _type = "user"
-            kwargs = {"username": self.name}
-        elif isinstance(self, Org):
-            _type = "org"
-            kwargs = {"username": self.name}
-        elif isinstance(self, Repo):
-            _type = "repo"
-            kwargs = {"repo_owner": self.owner, "repo_name": self.name}
+        try:
+            response = github.get(url=self.endpoint, return_response=True)
 
-        # Use is_valid_entity which handles caching and sanitization
-        exists = github.is_valid_entity(_type=_type, **kwargs)
+            if response.status_code == 200:
+                data = response.json()
+                # Sanitise the data
+                sanitised = github.sanitise_response(data)
+                # Cache the sanitised response
+                github.cache.set(self.endpoint, sanitised)
+                return True, sanitised
 
-        if exists:
-            # Get the cached sanitized data
-            cached = github.cache.get(self.endpoint)
-            return True, cached if cached else {}
-
-        return False, {}
+            return False, response.json()
+        except exceptions.RequestException:
+            return False, {}
 
 
 class User(GitHubEntity):