when (some who think their above it all)you play you
WILL pay!! why don't some folks "get it"? with a lilltle "thinking" they can avoid "being a part of this story"!!:nooo: Explosion of sex infections overwhelms health service
By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor
10 March 2003
Soaring rates of sexually transmitted infections are overwhelming the NHS and threatening the health of a generation of young people, according to a committee of MPs.
An inquiry into the NHS sexual health service by the Commons Health Select Committee has concluded that it is in crisis, with a shortage of resources, facilities and staff. Waiting lists are growing and delays in treatment are putting partners of infected people at increased risk, it found.
The committee, which is to meet this week to finalise its report, is expected to highlight the Government's failure to implement its sexual health strategy, published in summer 2001. The strategy was given £47.5m in funding, less than half the cost of introducing screening for chlamydia, a disease that causes infertility in women.
David Hinchliffe, the Labour MP for Wakefield and committee chairman, said: "Frankly, the whole sexual health service is a shambles. Professionals are crying out for help and not getting it. I do not use the word crisis lightly, but I think we have a crisis here."
Pressure on the sexual health services has intensified in the last decade, fuelled by changing sexual behaviour. Cases of gonorrhoea have risen 86 per cent in five years, and those of chlamydia have doubled. Syphilis is making a return and the rate of HIV infection rose to its highest level last year.
The impact of the rise in diseases has been seen in a doubling of the number of people attending clinics in the last decade to more than one million a year. Traditionally, patients receive immediate treatment to minimise the risk of passing their passing infections on to new sexual partners, but the "open access" service has collapsed in parts of the UK.
The average waiting time for an appointment nationwide is now two weeks. In that time a disease can be passed on. Genito-urinary medicine is the only medical speciality in which patients are encouraged to turn up without a referral from their GP because quick access is known to be crucial in controlling the spread of disease.
Specialists say the service has a 90 per cent shortfall of consultants and that the £47.5m set aside by the Government is inadequate. A plan to introduce national screening for chlamydia in women under 25 would cost twice that sum.
One specialist said: "The 10 per cent prevalence rate for chlamydia is absolutely horrendous. Some of us feel on that basis the Government should be rolling out a national screening programme. But the Health Department has not allocated the money, so it is running 10 more pilot schemes."
One of the biggest threats is the growing incidence of HIV, with 70 per cent of heterosexual cases contracted abroad. Modern drug treatments mean patients are surviving longer at an annual cost of about £15,000. Taking account of the risk of passing on the infection, the saving to the country of avoiding a single case of HIV is put at between £500,000 and £1m.
Mr Hinchliffe said yesterday: "Despite the Government having set out a sexual health strategy, the picture we gained is one of a service facing very serious difficulties."
9 March 2003 23:46
WILL pay!! why don't some folks "get it"? with a lilltle "thinking" they can avoid "being a part of this story"!!:nooo: Explosion of sex infections overwhelms health service
By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor
10 March 2003
Soaring rates of sexually transmitted infections are overwhelming the NHS and threatening the health of a generation of young people, according to a committee of MPs.
An inquiry into the NHS sexual health service by the Commons Health Select Committee has concluded that it is in crisis, with a shortage of resources, facilities and staff. Waiting lists are growing and delays in treatment are putting partners of infected people at increased risk, it found.
The committee, which is to meet this week to finalise its report, is expected to highlight the Government's failure to implement its sexual health strategy, published in summer 2001. The strategy was given £47.5m in funding, less than half the cost of introducing screening for chlamydia, a disease that causes infertility in women.
David Hinchliffe, the Labour MP for Wakefield and committee chairman, said: "Frankly, the whole sexual health service is a shambles. Professionals are crying out for help and not getting it. I do not use the word crisis lightly, but I think we have a crisis here."
Pressure on the sexual health services has intensified in the last decade, fuelled by changing sexual behaviour. Cases of gonorrhoea have risen 86 per cent in five years, and those of chlamydia have doubled. Syphilis is making a return and the rate of HIV infection rose to its highest level last year.
The impact of the rise in diseases has been seen in a doubling of the number of people attending clinics in the last decade to more than one million a year. Traditionally, patients receive immediate treatment to minimise the risk of passing their passing infections on to new sexual partners, but the "open access" service has collapsed in parts of the UK.
The average waiting time for an appointment nationwide is now two weeks. In that time a disease can be passed on. Genito-urinary medicine is the only medical speciality in which patients are encouraged to turn up without a referral from their GP because quick access is known to be crucial in controlling the spread of disease.
Specialists say the service has a 90 per cent shortfall of consultants and that the £47.5m set aside by the Government is inadequate. A plan to introduce national screening for chlamydia in women under 25 would cost twice that sum.
One specialist said: "The 10 per cent prevalence rate for chlamydia is absolutely horrendous. Some of us feel on that basis the Government should be rolling out a national screening programme. But the Health Department has not allocated the money, so it is running 10 more pilot schemes."
One of the biggest threats is the growing incidence of HIV, with 70 per cent of heterosexual cases contracted abroad. Modern drug treatments mean patients are surviving longer at an annual cost of about £15,000. Taking account of the risk of passing on the infection, the saving to the country of avoiding a single case of HIV is put at between £500,000 and £1m.
Mr Hinchliffe said yesterday: "Despite the Government having set out a sexual health strategy, the picture we gained is one of a service facing very serious difficulties."
9 March 2003 23:46
