Guy’s and St Thomas’ new community sexual health centre has treated almost 20% more patients since moving from a hospital clinic 12 months ago.
Burrell Street in Southwark is the first NHS sexual health clinic in London to open seven days a week – it replaced the Lydia Clinic at St Thomas’ in December 2012. There were 24,980 attendances at Burrell Street from January to November this year compared with 21,095 at the Lydia Clinic in the same period last year – an 18.4% increase.
Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of Public Health England who officially opened the state-of-the-art centre on Friday 6 December, said: “There is no one-size-fits all solution to improving the sexual and reproductive health of the nation. However, we know that making it easy for people to access expert advice and services, such as tests for sexually transmitted infections and HIV, can help them to make healthy, informed choices, and address health concerns early and effectively. Burrell Street is an excellent example of this – with great results already being seen in its first year.”
Dr Anatole Menon-Johansson, Clinical Lead for Sexual Health Services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, says: “These figures show people are responding positively to what we offer at Burrell Street. Our Sunday clinics are particularly popular because no other NHS sexual health centre in London is open seven days a week. We are giving people what they want, when they want it.
“By taking sexual health services out of hospital and into our local community we want to make having a sexual health test as routine as a check-up at your dentist or optician.”
Marielle Perraut, Matron for Sexual Health Services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, adds: “The commitment, enthusiasm and expertise of all our staff is fundamental to the success of our new centre at Burrell Street. They have embraced a whole new way of working and made the centre a safe, friendly and innovative environment for both patients and staff.”
Southwark and Lambeth have some of the UK’s highest rates of sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Burrell Street provides a range of services for the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, rapid HIV tests, and a contraception clinic. The environment is designed to put patients at ease. It includes eye-catching artwork funded by Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity.
