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SEXUAL HEALTH


Sue Meakin, Health Improvement Manager at Dorset Health Care University NHS Foundation Trust’s Contraception and Sexual Health service, knows all about getting young people involved.


It


is important for healthcare profession- als to consider the target audience for


their services, and tailor their approach ap- propriately. One Trust is leading the way in engaging successfully with young people and sexual health.


Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foun- dation Trust offers services across Poole and Bournemouth, running sexual health clinics, delivering education in schools, STI screening and offers advice and appoint- ments by telephone or text.


Health Improvement Manager Sue Meakin, responsible for development and improvement at the Trust, talked to NHE about how they deliver a wide range of services to young people in the most accessible formats possible.


Meakin said: “We run sexual health ser- vices across Bournemouth and Poole, in- cluding a contraceptive health service, and we run an integrated service with asymp- tomatic screening for sexually transmitted infections.


“We run over-25s contraceptive services, and youth advisory services for the under- 25s; the rate of sexually transmitted infec- tions is higher in that age group.


“We also deliver sex and relationship edu- cation into educational establishments, and have been doing that for many years.


“We have a Dorset Working Women’s proj- ect with sex workers and we also manage a Chlamydia screening programme.”


Dorset Health Care University NHS Foun- dation Trust was recently recognised with the government approved ‘You’re Wel- come’ award, certifying that their services are friendly to young people.


Meakin explained: “The Department of Health established the ‘You’re Welcome’ quality criteria and we responded to that. It’s about principles for health services in the community and hospitals. Some of the criteria are particularly specific to young people, covering chronic, acute health problems, disease management, and par- ticularly sexual health. Some of the issues are about access, as for young people it’s


cially important, which is why we include young people in that.”


Confidentiality is key


very much about whether services are near to where they live or work.


“Our GUM department has been accredited with ‘You’re Welcome’ and one of the key advice centres in Poole has been awarded it as well. That’s a youth service run initia- tive, in which we run a clinic twice a week. There’s quite a lot of work to engage young people for the accreditation.”


Part of this work involves including young people’s opinions on publicity material, and really taking notice of their comments and recommendations.


Meakin said: “With our f-risky website, we try to stay a little bit ahead of what’s going on. We try to make it as interactive as we can, so it looks interesting to young people, and it stands out slightly from other main- stream NHS sites. The publicity is espe-


“One of the issues for them is absolute confidentiality,” she continued. “It’s a key thing for young people, and it’s sometimes the reason why they worry about going to other services, like GPs. Some of the other worries include who’s going to be there when they go into services or pharmacies, and if it is going to be someone they know,” she said.


While confidentiality is very important, safeguarding young people is also vital. They must be made aware that other au- thorities may be contacted if an individual patient is causing harm either to them- selves or to someone else. This is clearly displayed in all the clinics to ensure that young people are protected.


The new location at Bournemouth’s The Junction has also been very successful for the trust. Meakin told us why, saying: “The environment is important: we see over 3,000 young people a year here. We were lucky enough to be allowed capital to re- furbish The Junction. It’s very nice in here now – very modern, very clean and young person friendly. There are lots of posters that they would find useful, lots of leaflets and information available.” Cont. overleaf >


national health executive Sep/Oct 11 | 85


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