Sexual health care in the NHS

Our project on sexual health practice from the perspective of patients and practitioners has nearly ended, and we are writing papers from the data. We are also following up with several impact-based events. If you participated in this study please follow the links below.

This project opened up questions about clinical practice and patient experiences of bacterial infections commonly treated in the sexual health setting. The recent emergence of multi drug resistant gonorrhoea is well known and discussed in the media, though clinicians have long needed to adjust prescribing as particular strains of the infection became resistant to common antibiotics. Other bacterial infections are also showing emerging resistance, including Mycoplasma genitalium, which was resistant to several antibiotics when it was first identified in the 1980s. In response there are efforts to improve diagnostics, test new antibiotics and develop vaccines. Sexual health is already sensitive to questions of marginality, access, and stigma, having confronted them during the HIV/AIDS crisis. It is under pressure today to find resources for defending and extending HIV prevention while facing budget cuts due to austerity and to the pandemic. Sexual health could therefore appear as an example of health services under strain, but we also see that the community is equipped with experience and skills from work on HIV/AIDS that may shape a powerful response to AMR.

We were given ethical approval to start fieldwork in the UK by the NHS London - Brighton and Sussex Research Ethics Committee. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we had to pause the research several times, but then did both online and in person recruitment in London, Cumbria and Brighton.

Sexual health care in the NHS

Patients

Professionals