Specialist counselors provided just over 4 million appointments last year in England to people suffering from STIs such as syphilis or needing help with contraception. Attendance at sexual and reproductive health services is “rising” as a result of changes in people’s sexual behaviour, according to a report by the Local Government Association. It highlights that the number of STIs recorded in people aged over 65 rose from 2,280 in 2017 to 2,748 in 2019 – a 20% increase. The biggest increases were in gonorrhea and chlamydia. Chemsex gatherings, where mostly gay and bisexual men have sex while taking drugs such as GHB and mephedrone, increase the risk of people contracting HIV or hepatitis B or C. “This has greatly affected the volume and complexity of work that sexual health services deal with. Chemsex interactions have increased … and this has directly led to increased attendance at sexual health clinics, particularly in cities/urban centres,” the LGA report said. Widespread use of hookups also leads to more STDs. For example, among women, they led to “greater risk-taking and therefore a much greater likelihood of needing treatment for STIs”, according to the report’s authors, councilor David Fothergill, chair of the LGA’s community welfare board, and James Woolgar. , Liverpool’s director of public health. “High use and access to smartphones and dating apps comes at a cost,” the report says. “Sexual mixing has changed significantly over the past 10 years, with the rise of app use and online dating,” said Fothergill. “This, combined with a small but growing number of over-65s needing support from sexual health services, has left these services with new and emerging pressures to deal with.” The number of STDs diagnosed in England is falling. 311,604 were recorded in 2021. However, about 2 million people that year were tested for STDs, 19% more than in 2020. Recent years have seen a huge increase in people needing sexual health advice accessing it online rather than in a clinic or over the phone, the LGA found. A large and rapidly growing minority of the 4 million people helped by services in 2021 were considered so. Dr Claire Dewsnap, chair of the British Sexual Health and HIV Association, said services were under unprecedented pressure due to “a wider evolving sexual health landscape”. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “Changing patterns of sexual behavior among certain demographics are reflected, for example, through rising rates of STDs diagnosed in people over 65, while practices such as chemsex and the use of dating apps can also be associated with higher risk behaviours,” he said. . The LGA has warned that the services, which are funded by local councils rather than the NHS, are “at tipping point” because, despite record attendances, their funding has been cut as a result of the public health grant, which the government gives councils , shrunk by around £1bn since 2015. Further cuts could affect efforts to reduce STIs, access to contraception and efforts to curb teenage pregnancies, Fodergill warned. The number of women choosing long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) over the pill—coils, implants, and injectables—is increasing dramatically. In 2011 only 29% of women attending sexual health services did so to do so with such contraceptive methods. But last year that figure was 56%, the LGA said. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We have provided more than £3.4bn this year to local authorities in England to fund public health services, including sexual and reproductive health. “Local authorities are responsible for providing open access sexual and reproductive health services, including free and confidential HIV and STD testing, condoms, provision of the HIV prevention drug PrEP, vaccination and contraceptive advice.”
