Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSInvest in school nurses to raise chlamydia awareness, says RCN
The Royal College of Nursing has called for greater investment in school nurses and sexual health services after the Government’s chlamydia testing programme came under fire from MPs.
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A report from the Public Accounts Committee criticised the programme, claiming that not enough was being done to check its progress.
The RCN said more needed to be done to raise awareness of the UK’s most common sexually transmitted infection, claiming that prevention is better - and less expensive - than a cure.
Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the RCN, said: “For years the RCN has said that raising young people’s awareness of chlamydia is key to preventing the disease.
“Greater investment in school nursing and sexual health services is needed to ensure young people are fully aware of the risks of sexually transmitted infections before it is too late.”
A report published by the National Audit Office in November found several flaws in the programme, including a lack of dialogue about safe sex between health workers and patients who had been tested for the infection.
Tory MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “This is a classic example of what can happen when the responsibility for delivering a national initiative is pushed down to local level, with little thought about the mechanisms and interventions needed at national and regional level to maintain efficiency and momentum.”
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Readers' comments (2)
patricia lightfoot | 28-Jan-2010 10:04 pm
I agree with this article and also need to constantly raise awareness amongst young woman re the risk of cervical cancer caused by HPV, as there is a rise in this condition as the age of first sexual partner has lowered as has multiple partners increased
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Josie Hughes | 29-Jan-2010 9:42 am
I am a student nurse. I understand the negative and positive sides of having long hour shifts. Yes, nurses remit is to look after patients but nurses are still human being and they also need to look after themselves -their well-being and family and home(specially for mothers like me). So inorder to balance the issue, maybe limit one long shift to once a week. A staff is allowed to have one long hour shift in a week which means one day off to do ironing and cleaning.
I enjoy chatting and working with patients but it can be physically and mentally exhausting, plus we have the flexible hours of shifts. To do 7am -3pm shift, I have to get up at 5am then coming back, sometimes you hit traffic jam. For me, getting the one day off is like heaven!
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