That sexual health services are in crisis?

[parkingarmageddon]

My dd tried to ring the sexual health clinic this morning for an appointment for a simple pill renewal and was told that the next available appointment is the middle of October at a clinic two bus rides away on the other side of the city, we live in a fairly large major city so I dread to think what it's like in smaller areas with less services. Waiting times at the gp are even longer. Aibu to think that we are letting our young people down? Surely it is more cost effective to have sufficient services in place to prevent unplanned pregnancies than to deal with the fallout?

Thanks Paranoid! That's really interesting.

I have a few thoughts on that but for another thread!

She can go to any brook walk in or just go to her gp and get a repeat script. Whats the issue?

Also the government dont give a fuck as birth rates were falling amongst white British and IVF costs increasing so dont bank on them trying to fix it any time soon.

The number of people waiting 'for the right time' is going to be a major issue in the future for this country.

I pay for mine via lloyds online. Not worth the hassle of trying to get appointment. If you order now it might even be ready today.

"Also the government dont give a fuck as birth rates were falling amongst white British and IVF costs increasing so dont bank on them trying to fix it any time soon.

The number of people waiting 'for the right time' is going to be a major issue in the future for this country."

You think they are deliberately making cntracpetion harder to get unless you can pay, in order to increase the birth rate?

i'd say it's more because anything to do with sex babies is seen as women's responsibility why should anyone help, they should keep their legs shut etc etc

Re-read the OP and what her daughter was told.

I agree with OP it is not good enough.

I remember the days when you used to be able to walk into one and get the morning after pill! What's going on

I work in sexual health and there is definitely a crisis. Services have been slashed and demand exceeds capacity. If you are affected by this you need to make a noise - not doing so is part of the reason we’re in this state now.

Consider signing this: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-our-sexual-health-services-1

And writing to your MP

OP
Is there a walk in service for young people in your area that your daughter could go to?

There is no brook walk in centre here and gps around here don't tend to see it as their job and will direct you to the sexual health clinics instead.

They shut the only walk in which was in the city centre which was heavily used and you now have to ring in the morning for a same day appointment or book the few pre bookable appointments they do have weeks in advance.

Just curious about all the pp who are saying can she not just get a repeat prescription, are you all on the pill? I ask as my gp now doesn’t allow more that one repeat prescription so I can’t get more than 6 months worth without seeing my gp they want to do more checks on the people using it. This is a health check with the gp too not just the practice nurse as it could have been previously.

I have signed the petition.

I assume PP who say you can buy the pill from Superdrug are talking about the morning after pill, which is indeed available over the counter.

But I thought OP meant the regular contraceptive pill? Can you clarify OP?

The middle of October is two weeks away, and an appointment in the same city. Am I alone in thinking that’s not a bad wait at all? There are walk in centres if she needs it sooner, but surely a fortnight is fine?

Remind her in future to start making plans to get her pill renewed when she starts the final packet, which gives her a month.

Yes the provision of GP and primary care services is dire in many places but this isn’t an example of that imo. Unless the clinic offer a drop in service I’m not sure why anyone would assume you can ring and book a pre planned appointment for straight away.

I was told by my local sexual health clinic that the pill is no longer supplied by then, and that I had to get it from my GP and pay for my prescription. So I just made a doc appointment and got a whole years’ worth of prescriptions and just take the new green bit of paper every 3 months to go pick it up.

by them*

Do we really want women taking the pill without ever checking in with a medical professional? It’s doesn’t take much looking here to find a range of normal. The pill might be common and safe but surely it’s worth checking. You can quite rightly buy painkillers over the counter but if you were taking it every day no one would say there was no point in seeing a dr even though you were achieving the desired outcome?
I don’t understand the thinking that we should all go back to treating things ourselves and only seeing a dr for an emergency.

thebangle you shouldn’t have to pay for prescription for ANY contraceptive - it should be free on the NHS

And yes, if you are stable and well established on the pill as a method, and not high risk then the FSRH guidelines say you can be prescribed up to a year’s worth of pills at a time.

Please consider sharing the petition on social media etc and thanks to those who’ve signed

Lolly - no you can buy the contraceptive pill from Superdrug, lloyds pharmacy and probably others online. You order it and then go collect it. From lloyds every other time or about that I have my blood pressure taken etc by the pharmacist.

When I've been desperate I've just bought it online. There's so many websites you can buy the pill just by answering a few questions. I've got my blue inhalers that way as well when I've been caught short. The pill costs £10 for a 3 month supply.

What upsets me is the number of girls who are given the pill to control bad periods when it turns out they have early stage endometriosis. Only now are some obns here in the US doing investigative work before giving the pill because the costs of long term care and fertility treatment is extremely expensive.

Fertility treatment is mainly completely self funded here in the US. Not catching these health issues early on opens up a huge legal issue for obns many years later.

I was lucky as a teen as I had a walk in sexual health clinic at the GP just down the road. It was open every week day and was always packed, no matter what time I went, with people of all ages including young teens after school. It was a great service.

Over the years the hours gradually reduced.

I’ve just had a look on the website and it’s been closed down this month.

I haven’t been on contraception for years so I’m pretty out of touch, but I guess I just have to go through my GP now which is dependent on appointments.

Yep it's rubbish.

At my local hospital (it's just a small unit, no A&E or anything) there used to be a FPC one evening per week. Made it very easy to get the pill and when I first had my implant inserted it was great as the ladies who worked there were pros on contraception and so dealt with implants etc daily.

But by the time my implant was due to be replaced I'd found out the clinic no longer ran, spoke to my GP surgery who don't have anyone who changes implants, so had to go round the bloody house trying to find somewhere that could and getting forms etc.

I am talking about the contraceptive pill. There is also a 4 week backlog for sti test results.