Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSFigures reveal fall in attendance at NHS sexual health clinics
There was a 4 per cent drop in attendances at genitourinary medicine clinics between May and June this year, the latest statistics from the Department of Health show.
In total there were 178,768 attendances at GUM clinics in June which is the equivalent of 5,659 per working day, compared to 5,914 per working day in May.
As the department only started reporting the data in February this year it is not possible to tell whether the drop is seasonal or not.
The data shows that 99.9 per cent of first appointments were offered within 48 hours of the request – the standard set in this year’s NHS operating framework which is designed to help reduce the rate of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies.
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Readers' comments (1)
Charlotte Hamilton | 27-Aug-2009 12:03 pm
This could be explained in part by the fact that there aren't as many GUM clinics available. Our trust has closed ours (despite the targets in this area) and it is left to CASH services to pick up the workload. The figures are not collected from CASH even though the clinical work is exactly the same - something I have never understood. As I work across both settings this means only half my activity is recorded!
Charlotte (CASH and GUM Nurse)
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