Sexual health screening could be offered at GP registration, MPs say
Sexual health screening could be introduced at GP registration, a committee of MPs has concluded.
It followed an House of Commons health and social care committee evidence session which found fragmented provision of sexual health services with inconsistent access, gaps in services and poor co-ordination.
There is an ‘urgent’ need for a ‘single coherent vision’ for sexual and reproductive health services, supported by sustainable funding, the committee said in a letter to the Department of Health and Social Care.
This national strategy first promised in 2019, is vital to clear up the ‘confusing picture’ of what services are offered by different parts of the health service or local authorities, the committee said.
Among a series of issues discussed by the committee was how sexual health screening could be incorporated into wider health services.
One initiative put forward was that individuals registering with a GP could be offered a postal kit for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and HIV.
‘This approach would effectively reach younger people, students, migrants, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who are more likely to move frequently and less likely to access traditional sexual health services,’ the committee wrote in the letter.
It is similar to a model tried in Wales where kits were available in community settings that could be returned discreetly ‘reducing stigma and increasing uptake’, the committee said.
Another issue is patients facing long delays, with one example given of a woman being unable to receive a hormonal coil fitting in a sexual health clinic due to ‘commissioning limitations’, despite the clinic having the capacity and expertise to do it.
Instead, she was passed between providers, facing potential delays of up to two years.
‘Commissioning must follow the patient, ensuring that services are responsive to need rather than constrained by administrative boundaries,’ the committee added.
Those giving evidence to the committee also raised the issue of scarcity of postal testing kits, and a lack of click-and-collect options for individuals who require discretion.
In response, the committee called for a national coordination of online platforms that test kits can be ordered from.
To help tackle stigma, DHSC should develop a public information campaign and social media strategy on sexual health.
This should be developed with organisations working with young people and marginalised groups who are less likely to access services, to build trust and ensure that messaging is inclusive and culturally sensitive.
Better data is also needed on emerging sexual health challenges including chemsex-related harm, the committee said.
In a report published in summer, officials warned of a ‘concerning acceleration’ in cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea in England.
Figures also showed that syphilis, including late-stage syphilis or complications from the infection, increased 5% from 12,456 in 2023 to 13,030 in 2024.
Cases of chlamydia fell 13%,but among women aged 15 to 24 who eligible for the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, there was a 10.7% decrease in the number of tests carried out.
Health and social care committee chair Layla Moran MP said: ‘Despite having a dedicated and passionate workforce, we heard that sexual health services can feel like an overlooked and undervalued part of the health service for those on the front line.
‘And the fact that no policy review has been carried out for over a decade is an inexcusable oversight.
‘This Government must now take a panoramic view of the confusing landscape of sexual health and reproductive services.
‘It should come up with a comprehensive strategy to take the anxiety out of accessing care, and make sure services are patient-centred and sustainably resourced.’
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READERS' COMMENTS [3]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
I thought that you could do that, if you lived in Wales, anyway? Nothing to do with registration
Another subject where there could be parallel agreement and disagreement.
A couple of questions on the regstration form could count as screening at GP registration, yes.
But inserting a hormonal coil at GP registration is a clear NO. It is not even sexual health screening – it is sexual health services. Services that are not always funded at GP surgeries; and that gPs were deskilled from in areas where there used to be separate sexual health services set up in competition with GPs because someone, but not apparently patients, felt that attending a GP for sexual health services was too stigma-inducing : as if going to the STD building was more discreet than being seen going into a GP waiting room! Later, many of these sexual health services were de-funded, and have withdrawn from many areas, or become too inaccessible (1 half-day per week in your town is not often enough, but 1 half-day per week in a town 2 hours away each way by train/bus is essentially no service), leaving a gap that needs filling. And yet again Gov. wants GPs to fill that gap, but has not thought it through.
GPs in our town can’t do STD screening, for exampl, because the samples do not get to the lab fresh enough. Yet the post office can manage it? I think another delusion of govt ministers.
Indeed, from 2026, apparently, all we have to do is pee on our mobile phones to get an instant diagnosis and treatment pops out the back of the device. Another dream DOH forgot to involve mobile phone production and distribution companies in. And very discriminatory against those who cannot use or afford a brand new mobile multi-device every 3 months like Wes Streeting obviously gets. Perhaps he could bring his phone to our town to do the CT scans that will be available in peoples houses from next year, except here?
Nice one DC 😂….and perhaps while he’s at your town, Wes could demonstrate future prostate cancer diagnosis where the phone is shoved into the old fartbox for app scanning…