BASHH

Lead Health Adviser

I work within sexual health improvement services for NHS Newcastle and North Tyneside Community Health. My role as lead nurse for sexual health advising is; to implement the aims of the national strategy for sexual health and HIV, continue to modernise service provision, improve access to services and reverse sexual ill health trends. I have over 20 years experience working in the field sexual health and have previously working within GUM and contraception services as a nurse. At community level I work collaboratively with local people to identify health needs, being an advocate for public health gain and a catalyst to influence policy and resource allocation.

Over the past eighteen months I have worked closely with colleagues to relocate the main hospital based Genito-urinary medicine service and the Contraception and sexual health service. The new base for sexual health services in Newcastle opened its doors in March 2009. This state of the art sexual health centre, called New Croft Centre, is situated in Newcastle's City Centre, the newly-integrated sexual health service provides patients with free and confidential contraception, sexual health and HIV services. It also houses the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Chlamydia Screening Programme, the Regional Cervical Screening Training Office, Sexual Health Improvement Services, Teenage Pregnancy SRE team, plus the under 25 years condom distribution scheme. New Croft Centre also facilitates delivery of contraception and sexual health outreach services in a variety of locations through out the city and operates a flexible community based peripatetic service aimed towards marginalised groups who may not access traditional mainstream services.

I lead partnership working to tackle the wider determinants of health and develop innovative approaches to improve practice and access into services. In response to policy drivers and national guidelines I have successfully introduced and developed a community-based 1 hour HIV service targeting men who have sex with men as an at-risk population. The aim of this service is to get more individuals with HIV infection diagnosed and treated earlier by removing the barriers to testing, eliminating waiting times, improving access and establishing a fast-track referral pathway for those testing reactive into HIV services for future management and care. A recently published article in Primary Health Care, September 2009, describes the development of this community based service.