Youth workers screen for chlamydia
Simon Vevers
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Youth workers are being trained by a West Yorkshire primary care trust to help test 16- to 24-year-olds for chlamdyia in non-NHS settings in an effort to meet national targets.
Keith Henshall, senior public health manager at Kirklees NHS, told CYP Now the youth workers were being recruited to meet the 17 per cent screening target as they were well placed to convey messages about sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Henshall said as many young people's venues as possible, including some schools, will be used for screening because of the reluctance many young people feel about going to see GPs.
However, Doug Nicholls, national secretary for the Community and Youth Workers' Union, said the use of youth workers was inappropriate. "Youth centres are educational establishments, not medical centres. Where does this end? If they are seen as a soft option for medical testing we will lose the purpose of youth centres."
Ide Fox, acting joint head of young people's services in Kirklees, said the local authority already provides free condoms as part of its contribution to tackling STIs and decided earlier this year to start offering chlamydia screening to young people.
She said several youth workers had been trained to provide the screening service at youth clubs in Huddersfield and other local towns. "You don't need any special facilities because whatever building they are in, where there are trained youth workers they can just go to the toilet to provide a urine sample, which is all bagged up with the paperwork and then sent off."
In a meeting of the primary care trust in January, it emerged that hundreds of tests taking place in GP surgeries were not being counted towards the government's screening target because doctors had not completed a specific form in which the young person can give consent.
Henshall said steps had now been taken to make sure all forms were being sent to the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, which picks up the cost of the test and informs GP practices of results.
The Department of Health has said chlamydia shows no symptoms in 50 per cent of young men and 70 per cent of young women. The annual cost of chlamydia in the UK is estimated to be more than £100m.
