Let's talk about sexual health
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Healthwatch Hertfordshire was commissioned by Hertfordshire County Council Public Health to find out about people’s understanding of sexual health and their access to sexual health services across Hertfordshire. They ran an online survey between September and November 2023, to which 130 people responded.
The survey findings show that Hertfordshire residents generally have good access to sexual health services, with 68% of respondents facing no barriers at all. There was also a good level of understanding and confidence about basic STI prevention and a strong positive response to the increasing variety of routes to STI testing.
This report has also highlighted the importance of making sure sexual health services are accessible to everyone who needs them in Hertfordshire. There are still common barriers faced by people trying to access care, including difficulty making an appointment, difficulty travelling long distances to clinics, feeling embarrassed or stigmatised or having their privacy compromised when attending. Several of these barriers are reflective of wider access barriers that are currently occurring in some primary and secondary care settings, such as difficulty making an appointment. This further highlights the benefits of offering online sexual health services and the importance of promoting that option for people where possible.
The findings of this research also emphasise that more work can be done on raising awareness of different types of STIs, including how they are treated and any longer-term consequences of untreated STIs. A very small proportion of respondents had received any information about sexual health in the last year, which indicates that more conversations need to be started about the importance of maintaining good sexual health throughout the life-course, and for all different demographic groups. However, more work needs to be done to explore the inequalities that different groups face around maintaining good sexual health, and ensure that barriers to testing are reduced or removed.