SEXUAL HEALTH
Keeping ahead
Looking to the future, developments on the horizon include streamlining the contact numbers into one phone number to pro- vide a “seamless service” when it comes to booking appointments. Other improve- ments should help the service stay up-to- date of the latest products and services for sexual health.
Meakin explained: “If trends change or if new contraception comes out then we’re very keen to look at that, or if there’s new and easier ways of testing then likewise. We used to have to take swabs; nowadays we use NAP testing which are self-taken swaps and urine samples. At one time that had to be done by a professional and young people would have to be examined - they take their own specimens nowadays. We try to keep up with the changing times.”
On the theme of keeping up with the times, the trust is also using new technologies to engage with young people and increase their access to sexual care.
“We’ve just done a piece of work with uni- versity students, Chlamydia support work- ers, around apps,” she explained. “Students can send for Chlamydia postal kits by scan- ning a barcode from our poster onto their mobile.
With an emphasis on co-ordination and joined-up services, staff at the clinics work together to provide a comprehensive range of care and support.
Meakin said: “The staff’s attitudes, values and skills make our young people welcome. Young people or adults; they have to be welcome into our service. We obviously work with other organisations in the local- ity, and have connections with the local authorities; we try to join up our youth ser- vices particularly.
“If we think there’s a young person that needs some kind of referral, or needs some more support, it’s about talking to that young person, really making sure that all the information is there, that they know where to go and get other help.”
Review and respond
“We do a lot of monitoring and evalua- tion of our services and what young people think about them, and when we were set- ting up the integrated service, we went out to young people to ask them what they wanted from STI screening. They wanted it
86 | national health executive Sep/Oct 11
centrally located; they wanted services late at night and at the weekend. So we try to respond as much as we can, and involve the young people in the design of the services.
“We’re looking to attract young people to the junction and then retain them; that’s quite important for us,” said Meakin.
Since the new publicity campaign and the move to a new building, the numbers of young people visiting the clinic have gone up. The Junction now combines contraceptive ser- vices, the Working Women project, a blood- borne virus clinic and screening for STIs.
Meakin said: “Our attendency does gener- ally go up year-on-year. We’ve got other services here, so our footfall through the door has gone up. We’ve centralised our sexual health office and the staff in those teams in one place. They’re still going out and working across the conurbation, and that helps the joined-up work for the young people or our clients. We might see some- one from Chlamydia screening and dur- ing the interview it may come up that they need some contraception, so it’s all in the same place.”
“That directly sends for a postal kit from our Chlamydia screening clinic. We’re al- ways very interested in issues like that and how we can get access to young people, hence the change in the website and the STI information interactive links onto our website.”
Making services accessible to young people is all about the detail, and ensuring infor- mation is comprehensive enough to answer any questions they may have.
Meakin recommends researching trans- port timetables and services in nearby ar- eas: “We made sure we’ve got the link to lo- cal bus times on our computers. If a young person wants to know which bus they’ve got to get to The Junction or one of our ser- vices, we can get that up on our computer screen.
“If somebody rings from out of the area, we’ve got to be able to provide current in- formation on other areas like Southamp- ton, or Ringwood. People may want to know where the nearest clinic is that they can go to.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit
www.f-risky.co.uk
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