Scottish sexual health strategy highlights pharmacy services as examples of good practice
Two pharmacy services are highlighted as examples of good practice in a sexual health report published last week by the Scottish Government.
The report describes progress on achieving the aims of Scotland’s national sexual health strategy “Respect and responsibility”.
This week’s report states: “NHS boards are making good use of sexual health strategy funding to employ more people and to provide targeted training for existing staff. Service redesign, making more use of healthcare professionals such as nurses and pharmacists in extended roles, has also transformed capacity in most areas of Scotland.”
In NHS Ayrshire & Arran, pharmacists are being trained in child protection issues so that they can provide emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) to girls aged 14 and 15 years. This is an extension to an existing pharmacy-based EHC service and, once the training has been completed, EHC will be offered by 79 pharmacies in the area.
In addition, a successful pilot of a chlamydia testing and treatment service involving 15 pharmacies in North Ayrshire will now be extended across the NHS board, the report states. In the first phase of the pilot, 76 chlamydia testing kits were given out to women who requested emergency contraception. Of these, 30 per cent were returned for testing and four positive results were obtained. The service was then extended to include anyone who considered themselves to be at risk from chlamydia infection. In the subsequent six months, 51 testing kits were given out and 55 per cent were returned for testing with two positive results. Pharmacists can provide treatment for people who receive a positive result.
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