Improving access to sexual health facilities in Oldham

Oldham Integrated Care Centre

More community sexual health facilities are to be provided for people in Oldham, Bury and Rochdale.

As part of a new outreach model being delivered by HCRG Care Group – the team will offer more outreach services from existing sites.

Staff are working closely with partners to provide greater access to sexual health support for vulnerable people and young people who are hard to reach within the community.

Sarah Lunt, Head of Sexual Health and Dermatology, at HCRG Care Group, said: “This is brilliant news for people in Oldham, Bury and Rochdale.

"At HCRG Care Group, we are proud to change people’s lives by transforming health and care and this expansion of services will allow us to reach more patients in the heart of their community.”

This work is part of an ongoing transformation programme being delivered by HCRG Care Group alongside its partners, which has been recommissioned by the three local authorities to deliver sexual health services until April, 2027.

Sexual health outreach services include "Clinic in a Box", which was launched during lockdown and will continue to give people access to contraception and sexual health information at convenient locations throughout Greater Manchester.

The expansion of services follows the announcement in December 2021 that sexual health services in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale had been rated as ‘Outstanding’ when it comes to caring for patients and ‘Good’ in safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and being well-led by the Care Quality Commission.

Sexual health services are run by HCRG Care Group on behalf of the local authorities in each area.

The service runs the Sexual Health Hub: thesexualhealthub.co.uk where local people can order testing kits for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and syphilis.

Also available online are condoms, emergency hormonal contraceptive pill and pregnancy tests.

You can contact the sexual health outreach team on 01706 676 474 or email: vcl.orbishyp@nhs.net

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