Current Issues |
| March 2003 |  |
| Explosion of sex infections overwhelms health service. | |
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The Independent (London) March 19, 2003 By: Jeremy Laurance Soaring rates of sexually transmitted infections are overwhelming the NHS and threatening the health of a generation of young people, according to a committee of MP's. An inquiry into the NHS sexual health service by the Commons Health Select Committee has concluded that it is crisis, with a shortage of resources, facilities and staff. Pressure on the sexual health services has intensified in the last decade, fuelled by changing sexual behaviour. Cases of gonorrhoea have risen 86% in five years, and those of Chlamydia have doubled. Syphilis is making a return and the rate of HIV infection rose to its highest level last year. The impact of the rise in diseases has been seen in doubling of the number of people attending clinics in the last decade to more than one million a year. The average waiting time for an appointment nationwide is now two weeks. In that time a disease can be passed on. Genito-urinary medicine is the only medical speciality in which patients are encouraged to turn up without a referral from their GP because quick access is known to be crucial in controlling the spread of the disease. One specialist said: "the 10% prevalence rate for Chlamydia is absolutely horrendous. Some of us feel on that basis the Government should be rolling out a national screening programme. But the Health Department has not allocated the money, so it it running 10 more pilot schemes." David Huncliffe, the Labour MP for Wakefield, chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee said: "Despite the Government having set out a sexual health strategy, the picture we gained is one of a service facing very serious difficulties." |