Press release: NHS Confederation responds to IAG survey on sexual health services

01 Aug 2006

Commenting on the survey undertaken by the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV on sexual health services, Nigel Edwards, Director of Policy at the NHS Confederation, which represents 90 per cent of primary care trusts, said:

"As the Independent Advisory Group recognises, their survey represents a snap-shot of views about current funding of sexual health services. Primary care trusts have a wide range of priorities to address - particularly the need to achieve financial balance which the government has made clear is the current top priority. So it is understandable that at this point in time funding for sexual health services is under pressure.
"But it is premature to draw strong conclusions on progress towards meeting the government's target that by 2008 all patients must be able to access NHS sexual health services within 48 hours.

"Sexual health services are a key priority for primary care trusts and they will be looking very carefully at how they spend their Choosing Health allocation because the issues of health inequalities and sexually transmitted infections are closely linked.

"The NHS Confederation agrees with the IAG that sexual health services need modernising. We recently called for a radical revamp of these services in order to tackle rapidly increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS in a joint report with the Terence Higgins Trust."

In a joint report with the Terrence Higgins Trust published in November 2005, the NHS Confederation made five key recommendations to improve sexual health services:

• Establish integrated community-based sexual health promotion services led jointly by primary care trusts and local authorities - to include schools, GP surgeries, face-to-face and outreach work in local communities
• Integrate contraception and STI services - community-based services need to be strengthened so that both contraception advice and testing and treatment for STIs are available in health centres, walk-in centres, pharmacies and less traditional settings such as leisure centres, community centres and on the High Street
• Expand the role of community and voluntary groups in providing sexual health services - organisations such as the Terrence Higgins Trust and many others must be better utilised to expand capacity and relieve pressure on NHS trusts
• Strengthen the management of HIV/AIDS as a long-term condition - patients now live with HIV for longer and so knowledge of the condition among GPs and other primary care staff such as nurses must be increased to help manage their care, for example by establishing full or part-time GPs with a specialist HIV interest
• Establish new models of sexual health and HIV primary care services - for example, enabling patients to register with a GP with a specialist interest in sexual health.

ENDS

Notes for editors

The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.

Contact details

Contact Media Relations Manager Joanna Clason on 020 7074 3306 or 07798 571078 or Senior Media Officer Amy Darlington on 020 7074 3304 or 07767 770309. For out of hours media enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.

Back to media centre