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  • Agenda item
  • Agenda item

    Contract Monitoring Report - Sexual Health Services

    To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Director of Public Health, giving an update on the performance, outcomes and value for money of the sexual health services commissioned by the County Council, on which the committee is asked to comment. 

    Minutes:

    Mrs V Tovey, Senior Commissioning Manager, and Ms W Jeffreys, Public Health Specialist, were in attendance for this item.

     

    1.            Mrs Tovey introduced the report and highlighted key areas of the ongoing transformation work, which was responding to the findings of the needs assessment. This included an increased digital and online presence and a newly-awarded nine-year contract at a very good price for an online condom scheme. The County Council worked closely with NHS partners to offer integrated services and optimum choice and to achieve best value for public money.  All services were performing well against targets and feedback from users had been good.

     

    2.            Mrs Tovey and Ms Jeffreys responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following:-

     

    a)    young people, and in particular young women, were reported to have problems accessing sexual health services in Sheppey as the service had moved from the healthy living centre to a local hospital, which was harder to travel to. Ms Jeffreys explained that, in response to the needs of young people on the island, there had been targeted work to increase awareness in schools and colleges of the Get It programme, safe relationships and chlamydia infection for year 11 and sixth form pupils in schools, more GPs offering LARC contraceptives and pharmacies offering contraception and chlamydia treatment over the period of the current contracts. Condoms and contraception (excluding those which need oxygen therapy to be administered) were still available at the healthy living centre and condoms from other outlets.  The service was moving generally to offering more services online, following feedback from young people, although these services would be accessible by over-16s only,  with an opportunity for younger people to be able to access advice directly from the service;

     

    b)    asked about charges for services provided for people living outside Kent, Mrs Tovey explained that a cross-charging policy was agreed and implemented across the south east but there was ongoing discussion  with neighbouring authorities about the level of such charges and how they would be managed.  However, she added that the proportion of out-of-county activity in Kent was currently declining;

     

    c)    Ms Jeffreys explained that the figures presented in Appendix B to the report were diagnostic rates per 100,000 of the population.  Kent’s rates of syphilis whilst increasing, were following the pattern seen across England; and

     

    d)    asked about Kent’s shortfall in screening rates, compared to those of its statistical neighbours, Ms Jeffreys explained that this shortfall was in the number of females  attending the integrated service for a first  appointment and taking up the offer of asymptomatic screening for  sexually-transmitted infections, an issue identified in the process of conducting the needs assessment. Specific key performance indicators would be built into the service remodel to monitor this activity.

     

    3.     It was RESOLVED that:-

     

    a)    the commissioning and provision of sexual health services in Kent,

     

    b)    service improvement initiatives being undertaken to improve quality and outcomes, and

     

    c)    progress to date on the implementation of the commissioning strategy which includes the re-modelling of services and the outcome of the condom procurement process,

    be noted.

     

    Supporting documents: