Sexual health services ‘at tipping point’

Sexual health services are ‘at a tipping point’ after demand has increased and funds have decreased, councils warn.

Patients could have to wait longer for sexual health services with visits to clinics up by 25 per cent in five years at the same time that funding for councils to provide vital public health services has been cut, the Local Government Association (LGA) says.

In 2016 there were 2,456,779 new attendances at sexual health clinics compared with 1,941,801 in 2012.

The LGA says that the government’s cuts to councils’ public health budgets of £531 million has left local authorities struggling to keep up with increased demand for sexual health services.

While council leaders acknowledge that it is good news that more people are taking responsibility for their sexual health, they warn that this is placing a significant strain on councils’ resources.

And although the number of new diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections fell by 4 per cent in 2016, councils are warning that it will be ‘extremely challenging’ to maintain services at the current level.

The LGA is calling on the government to recognise the importance of improving sexual health by reversing public health cuts. The funding is needed to help meet the increasing demand, otherwise patients could face longer waiting times and receive a reduced quality of service.

Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the LGA’s Community Well-being Board, said: “While it is encouraging that more and more people are taking their own and their partners’ sexual health seriously, we are concerned that this increase in demand is creating capacity and resource issues for councils. We are concerned that this will see waiting times start to increase and patient experience deteriorate.

“The reduction in public health funding could also compound problems further and impact on councils’ ability to meet demand and respond to unforeseen outbreaks. We cannot tackle this by stretching services even thinner.

“It is obviously good news that diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections are down, but sexual health services are now reaching a tipping point where it will be extremely challenging to maintain this progress.

“Once again this is an example of councils inheriting the responsibility of public health when it was transferred from the NHS in 2013, but without the necessary resources to deliver services.”