06 May 2016

For immediate release

Standing up for outstanding Sexual Health Services - Board to take Sexual Health Services decision

CNWL has concluded its three month consultation and the outcome, with recommendations, will be discussed and decided at the Board meeting on 11 May.

The public consultation, which was led by independent company Verve and assisted by Health Watch Camden, has presented its report. The consultation was to help think about the future provision of Sexual Health Services, given we had to save £2.7m.

The public consultation cost around £35,000.

CNWL consulted on two options:

• Option 1 - keep all three clinics (Archway, Mortimer Market & Margaret Pyke) but reduce the number of appointments/opening hours

• Option 2 - reduce the number clinics from three to two, by closing MPC and relocating its services to Archway and Mortimer Market.

The responses were: 41% for Option 1 and 40% for Option 2, which we do not consider to be a decisive outcome.

However many practical issues were raised which will be included in our plans.

The Sexual Health Service is recommending Option 2.

Should the CNWL Board agree to this, a dedicated women's contraceptive service will be provided at Mortimer Market Centre with additional contraceptive activity provided from the Archway Centre.

The dedicated unit at Mortimer Market will have eight clinical rooms and a newly refurbished procedure suite and recovery space for the continuation of complex contraceptive procedures. This compares favourably with the current arrangement of ten clinical rooms at Margaret Pyke Centre. The small reduction in clinical space will be mitigated by some activity transferred to the Archway Centre, extending opening hours and some women attending for an STI-screen only can be directed to the sexual health clinic. This service will be open longer during the working week with the option to open at weekends.

We will continue to provide booked appointments, with continued walk-in services for emergencies.

The waiting area will be women-only at the dedicated service at Mortimer Market.

The ethos and caring approach of the Margaret Pyke Centre will remain and be incorporated into the transformation process.

Robyn Doran, CNWL's Chief Operating Officer, said, "This has been a tough discussion, with services in a financial vice and a major retender to start very soon for which we need to be ready. Feelings have run high with issues debated at Council meetings, our own Board, very extensive media coverage and in the consultation itself. It's been toughest on the staff who have worked really well - outstanding actually - during a very worrying time for them. And whatever option was decided on staff numbers would be cut. Option 2 offers more staff and that's decisive for me as it gives us the means to provide the kind of service the public want and the Margaret Pyke brand will be central to that."

The papers are available on the Board meetings and papers page on our website.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Stephenson House, 75 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PL
Tel: 020 3214 5756 e-mail:communications.cnwl@nhs.net