Helensburgh and Lomond sees STIs rise report doctors

Jackie Baillie MSP said GPs have reported an increase in sexually transmitted infections since the "failure" by NHS Highland to provide services in Helensburgh and Lomond.

In February the Advertiser reported that patients were facing round trips of up to 230 miles to access services elsewhere in Argyll and Bute after the specialist sexual health clinic in Helensburgh was discontinued.

The service at the Victoria Integrated Care Centre in East King Street was suspended last year after the doctor in charge retired.

One health worker told the MSP: "We need some essential sexual health services in the area.

“We have absolutely no services and it has been left to GP practices to pick up the pieces for the local population.

“This is putting yet more pressures on GP practices, who do not have specialised sexual health training and don't have the resources available to them to refer patients on to receive appropriate treatments.

“We have not even got any free condom services available to prevent sexually transmitted infections and prevent unnecessary pregnancies, as these have also been discontinued.

“We have noted an increase in screening requested and a rise in infections.”

Specialist sexual health services were available in Helensburgh's Victoria Integrated Care Centre on Fridays. But the retirement of staff hit the service and there has not been a replacement.

Services now being taken up by GPs include support for women requiring contraceptive or menopause help, as well as sexual health issues.

Jackie Baillie MSP (Image: Newsquest)

Ms Baillie said patients in the area have been unable to access NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde services at the Sandyford Clinic in the city since 2015 when a previous agreement with NHS Highland was terminated.

Patients in Helensburgh and Lomond are now being sent to clinics in Campbeltown, Oban and Lochgilphead to access services, or are being advised to contact their GP.

Ms Baillie said: “It is ridiculous that patients in Helensburgh and Lomond should be left without sexual and women’s health services.

“This is a problem that has been known to both Argyll and Bute health and social care partnership and NHS Highland for some time, and little appears to have been done to remedy it.

“It is not acceptable to pile further pressure on GPs and their staff without even the basic support or the necessary basic supplies and lay the problem at someone else’s door.

“This is down to a failure on the part of the board and HSCP to plan for service delivery and it is they who should remedy it urgently.

“NHS Highland made pledges in respect of local treatment delivery when responsibility for service provision in Helensburgh and Lomond transferred to them, and they are failing to stand by those.”

A spokesman for Argyll and Bute HSCP said: "Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) are aware of the challenges faced by sexual health services in Helensburgh and Lomond, we apologise for any inconvenience caused to the patients affected by this. 

"We acknowledge that modernising standards for these services is taking longer than expected.

"Sexual Health is a highly specialised service, and we are committed to ensuring that people have access to the best possible services.  

"We have formed a working group to address the challenges in providing access to sexual health services for patients.

"We have consulted with GPs in Helensburgh and Lomond, and have appointed a project manager to oversee the project.

"We are working closely with NHS Scotland National Services and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to improve patient pathways to sexual health services."

The HSCP said free condoms and libricants are available throughout the area. They can also be ordered online from Waverley Care, Scotland's HIV and Hepatitis C charity.

They added: "We are working with Waverley Care to improve awareness of this service and with other professionals to improve access to free condoms throughout Argyll and Bute."