Budget cuts lead to several changes to York’s sexual health and contraceptive services.
Under the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, local authorities are mandated to provide free, accessible sexual health and contraceptive services. These services are crucial to the public’s health and ability to make informed decisions about sex and contraception.
However, funding for sexual health services has been cut by 30% since 2015. The Public Health Grant (which provides this funding to local authorities) has not increased with inflation, meaning that the City of York Council have lost out on an extra £2 million to fund their sexual health services. As a result of this, key changes have been made to York’s Sexual Health Services.
These changes follow a public consultation of over 100 respondents from July to September 2024. Most of the respondents were between the age of 25-55 and a majority of the respondents were female (61.11%).
One of these changes is reduced clinic hours.
The initial proposal was to close clinics on Saturdays. However, due to negative feedback from consultation respondents, (with 72.5% of those surveyed voting against the idea) this has changed to clinic closures on Wednesday mornings.
Another key change is a further cap on Preventx activity for residents of York. Preventx runs a nationwide, online sexual health screening service, where users can order free and confidential STI testing kits via post.
Due to budget cuts, this system is being streamlined. This involves an introduction of an ‘enhanced triage’ approach, making users participate in a more rigorous screening when ordering STI testing kits. This will make the service more cost-efficient, matching the standards of service a visit to an in-person clinic would provide, along with ensuring users have the right kit for their personal needs.
The third change that the Council has highlighted is the cap on LARC (Long-Acting Reversible Contraception). LARC includes the contraceptive coil and the contraceptive implant.
York has a higher than average usage of LARC. Although this places the city in good stead to provide high-quality coil and implant procedures, over 3000 individuals attended York clinics last year for basic contraceptive needs. These are services that GP surgeries and pharmacies can provide, so York Council aims to target LARC provision in their clinics to those that need it the most.
It is worth noting that according to the Council’s data, this change is the most protested.
57.89% of respondents disagree with the proposal to limit the number of LARC’s fitted. Many of those surveyed responded negatively to the idea of the choice of birth control being limited. With one person commenting that it was an “old fashioned” move, and another saying that it was “concerning”.
So what does this mean for York residents?
Peter Roderick, Director of Public Health in the City of York Council, says: “These service changes are not being made lightly – we know there will be impacts and it’s our role to mitigate these as much as we can.”
The City of York Council also acknowledges the crucial role of sexual health services in the city, with a commitment to continue the provision of services at the same high-quality.
Roderick says: “Sexual health services are vital, and we are proud of the quality of what has been available to people in York in recent years… We are determined that we will meet York’s future needs to the same level, but there are always opportunities to make changes and do things more efficiently.”
Although these changes may have negative impacts upon the sexual health services of York, the Council aims to maintain the standard the city has always had.
Contracts continue to be signed with various providers, which Jo Mannion (Consultant and Care Group Director for Family Health at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) claims to: “welcome the opportunity to build on this success in strong partnership with York.”
The real impact of budget cuts will only be seen when these changes are rolled out, but it is crucial for sexually-active individuals to continue to use these services.
You can find more information about sexual health and wellbeing at www.yorsexualhealth.org.uk.