Welcome
Thursday 15 November 2018 (Issue 50)
Welcome to the November issue of the Sexual Health, Reproductive Health & HIV Policy eBulletin. Last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, delivered his Autumn Budget. Extra spending was announced for the NHS and social care but there was no explicit mention of additional funding for sexual health. The Government’s current policy emphasis on prevention was also further outlined in a new vision document launched by Matt Hancock Secretary of State for Health & Social Care on 5 November 2018. Leading sector organisations welcomed the focus on prevention but warned that prioritising prevention must be accompanied by investment in local authority public health services.
In this month's eBulletin we bring you the launch of Collaboration, Choice Care - the final report of the Contraception Priority Setting Partnership (Contraception PSP). The Contraception PSP is a participatory research project led by FSRH’s Clinical Studies Group together with NIHR’s James Lind Alliance. It has brought together healthcare practitioners and users to define the most important research priorities in contraception (see related eFeature by Professor Judith Stephenson below).
Other items to look out for in the November issue include: the launch of the new phase of the Protect Against STIs campaign from Public Health England (PHE) which as well as encouraging condom use also highlights how some STIs are symptomless and can cause long-term health issues if left untreated; annual SRH services data from NHS Digital showing the number of women in contact with SRH services has fallen for the third consecutive year; a new infographic leaflet from the British Association for Sexual Health & HIV (BASHH) demonstrating the public health benefits of improved sexual health care and a new Halve It position paper presenting the case for scaling up action to eliminate the late diagnosis of HIV. Also, a reminder that National HIV Testing Week starts on Saturday 17 November - there's a link to social media resources in the campaigns section below.
And, a last minute addition - Quarterly statistics on conceptions to women under 18 in England and Wales (Q3, 2017) have just been released by ONS this morning. Click here to access the 2017 Q3 dataset and get more information in the data section below.
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Topline results from eBulletin Survey
Thanks to all readers who completed the recent online Sexual Health, Reproductive Health & HIV Policy eBulletin survey. The results suggest that it continues to be a valued and trusted source of information and stakeholder commentary for the wider sector. 96% of respondents agreed that the eBulletin is a reliable source of information on policy and over 65% indicated that it had influenced or strengthened how they approached their work. Respondents also rated the issues that concerned them most about the commissioning and provision of services - with funding of services and funding of prevention polling the highest levels of concern . The Editor's blog below shares the topline results from the survey and reveals the key issues that continue to concern those working locally.
>Editors Blog by Helen Christophers |
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eFeature
Judith Stephenson is the Margaret Pyke Professor of Sexual & Reproductive Health at UCL, Programme Director for Maternal Health, UCL Partners (Academic Health Science Partnership) and Honorary Consultant in Women’s Health at UCLH. She is also a member of the steering group for the Priority Setting Partnership in Contraceptive Care. In this month's eFeature Professor Stephenson presents the top 10 research priorities in contraception and guides us through the work and launch of the final report from the Contraception Priority Setting Partnership which places contraceptive service users and frontline clinicians at the centre of the research priority selection process.
>Professor Judith Stephenson eFeature
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Policy development and guidance
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Prevention is better than cure: Our vision to help you live well longer
Last week the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, Matt Hancock, outlined how he plans to transform the Government’s approach to prevention, paving the way for a green paper in 2019. Prioritising investment in primary and community healthcare, making sure every child has the best start in life and supporting local councils to take the lead in improving health locally are identified as key to realising the vision. Leading sector organisations welcomed the focus on prevention but warned that prioritising prevention must be accompanied by investment in local authority public health services. See the sector responses below.
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Autumn Budget 2018
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, delivered his autumn budget to Parliament on 29 October. The budget included additional funding for the NHS and social care but deferred any decision on funding for public health until Spending Review 2019. Read sector responses below.
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Briefing on public health funding and impact on sexual health
A coalition of sector organisations including the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASSH), British HIV Association (BHIVA) and Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) held a recent event with key parliamentarians to brief them on the impact of public health funding cuts on sexual health and reproductive health services. The briefing event, on 24 October, was held in advance of the Autumn budget and was designed to gain commitment to supporting public health funding in the budget and spending review.
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Taking our health for granted: Plugging the public health grant funding gap
This new briefing paper from The Health Foundation calculates that an additional £3.2b a year is required to reverse the impact of government cuts to the public health grant and to ensure it is re-allocated according to need. The Health Foundation says that this additional money is needed to better meet public need while also restoring real term losses.
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HPV Vaccination
Leading experts in the field of HPV (human papilloma virus) and the diseases it can cause have written to the Public Health Minister Steve Brine MP urging him to offer HPV vaccination to boys aged up to 18 as a catch-up programme. This would run alongside the vaccination programme for 12/13 year old boys which the Government intends to rollout from September 2019.
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A roadmap for eliminating late diagnosis of HIV in England
This final position paper from the Halve It coalition presents the case for scaling up action to eliminate the late diagnosis of HIV, the leading cause of premature death and disease among people living with HIV. The paper presents the evidence on late diagnosis in England and sets out key priorities for action across the health system. The paper’s key messages are summarised in specific briefings for local authority and NHS commissioners, parliamentarians and local councillors.
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Call to accelerate efforts to cure hepatitis C infection in those living with HIV
BHIVA is calling for accelerated efforts to cure hepatitis C virus in all those living with HIV. It has proposed targets for the next three years and will be working closely with local services to ensure all patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C are linked to care and treatment.
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Ten minute rule bill on decriminalisation of abortion
A bill to decriminalise abortion in England, Wales and Northern Ireland passed its first parliamentary vote on 23 October 2018. The bill seeks to remove the criminal provisions from the Offences Against the Person Acts 1861 which underpins abortion law in the UK. The bill was presented by Diana Johnson MP and co-sponsored by a cross-party coalition of MPs from five UK political parties. The second reading is scheduled to take place on the 23 November.
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Amendment to Northern Ireland Bill
A recent amendment to the Northern Ireland Bill (NC7) tabled by Stella Creasy MP and Conor McGinn MP was also passed on 24 October 2018. The amendment seeks to increase the accountability of the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Karen Bradley to ensure that the country's laws are compatible with human rights, including in relation to abortion and same sex marriage.
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Prison Health
The Health and Social Care (HCS) Committee has published its report on prison health. The Committee finds that prisons are limiting prisoners’ access to healthcare and their ability to lead healthier lives and calls on the Government to take further action to reduce the health inequities people in prison face.
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Antimicrobial resistance
Last month the HSC Committee also published its report on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The report highlights the rise of resistant infections across healthcare, including in relation to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhoea and chlamydia, and calls on AMR to be firmly established as a top government priority.
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Sexual harassment of women and girls in public places
The Women and Equalities Committee has published its report on sexual harassment of women and girls in public places. The report sets out a series of measures that government, local authorities, public transport operators and universities should implement to make public places safer for all women and girls.
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Research integrity: clinical trials transparency
The Science and Technology Committee has published its report on clinical trials transparency, highlighting the huge amount of information that goes unreported from clinical trials and putting forward a series of recommendations to drive improvement in this area.
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Service standards & guidelines
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BASHH & BHIVA Member Survey 2018
BASHH and BHIVA have recently released results of survey conducted amongst members during August and September this year. The survey provides more evidence of the pressures on sexual health services, with respondents reporting reduced access to sexual health and HIV services.
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Emergency Contraception National Benchmarking Audit report
This report from FSRH provides an overview of the development of a National Audit tool to support members to audit the sexual and reproductive services they offer. The report presents key findings from the first National Audit conducted, which focused on emergency contraception, and reflects on the learning gathered from participant’s feedback. The audit is primarily focused on primary care but is also reproducible in specialist services and voluntary agencies.
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Evidence, data & research
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Collaboration, Choice, Care: The Contraception Priority Setting Partnership (PSP)
The Contraception PSP has published its final report via the eBulletin today. The report presents the top 10 research priorities in contraception identified from a systematic process of bringing together users receiving contraceptive care and healthcare professionals delivering it. This month’s eFeature by Professor Judith Stephenson covers the report and the unique and robust process involved in identifying the most important research priorities in contraception.
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Statistics on SRH Services: England 2017/18
NHS Digital has published data on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in England for 2017/18. In 2017/18 over 792,000 women contacted SRH services for reasons of contraception. This number had been rising until 2014/15 but has since fallen for three consecutive years – a drop of 16%. FSRH has reiterated how reduced access to SRH services will have long and short-term consequences for women and wider communities.
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Quarterly conceptions to women aged under 18 (Q3, 2017)
Quarterly statistics on conceptions to women under 18 in England and Wales (Q3, 2017) were released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 15 November 2018. For England, there has been a 6.8% reduction from a rate of 17.7 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 17 (4,012 conceptions) in the third quarter of 2016 to 16.5 (3,684 conceptions) in the same quarter in 2017. Every region apart from the North East and Yorkshire and Humber have seen a reduction in the quarterly rate compared with the previous year. There is still significant regional variation, with decreases ranging from 14.9% in the East Midlands to 1% in the North West.
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STIs in Yorkshire and Humber: 2017 data
PHE has released its annual report summarising data for STIs in Yorkshire and Humber in 2017.
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Realising the potential of early intervention
This new report from the Early Intervention Foundation sets out a bold plan of action to ensure early intervention is available to the children, young people and families who need it most. The report looks at areas strongly associated with adverse outcomes, including risky sexual behaviour, and highlights well-evidenced early intervention programmes that seek to reduce this risk.
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LGBT in Britain: Health Report
This report from Stonewall, part of its state-of-the-nation LGBT in Britain research series with YouGov, looks at the mental health and wellbeing of LGBT people and investigates the specific experiences of LGBT people when accessing healthcare services.
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Reports & other resources
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Infographics leaflet on value of sexual health services
BASHH has produced an infographics leaflet to give a simple visual representation of how sexual health contributes to public health, including figures on costs and benefits in the form of a single page leaflet and a slightly more detailed 2-page leaflet. These can be used when discussing services with commissioners by highlighting the important role sexual healthcare has in delivering effective public health outcomes.
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HIV and Integrated Care – Can STPs deliver?
NAT has published a report, first trailed in an eFeature in August, looking at what potential Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) might have to improve the integration of HIV services. The report will support local HIV stakeholders in consulting and engaging with their STP about integrated care.
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HIV and the menopause
The British Menopause Society (BMS) has produced a fact sheet aimed at GPs and other health professionals on managing the menopause in women living with HIV. BMS worked closely with the Prime Study at UCL to produce the resource.
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‘Just one thing after another’: Living with multiple conditions
The Taskforce on Multiple Conditions, a cross-sector partnership led by The Richmond Group of Charities, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity and The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), has published a report detailing the experiences of ten people living with several long term conditions and the things that matter most to them when receiving care and support. Two of the people involved in the study are living with HIV.
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Roadmap to statutory RSE
The PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum have launched a joint roadmap to statutory relationships and sex education (RSE). From September 2020 all secondary schools will be required to deliver RSE, and all primary schools will be required to deliver relationships education. This free roadmap is a guide to support school leaders in preparing to provide high quality RSE (and relationships education) as an identifiable part of PSHE education. It includes 10 steps based on established good practice and evidence of what works.
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Anti-HBT bullying resources
A range of resources are available to ensure primary and secondary schools in England are equipped to address homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying. The resources were produced by six partners, funded by the Government Equalities Office and supported by PHSE Association.
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Conference news
NAM aidsmap was an official online news reporter for two conferences held in October: the HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P) and the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow). Visit NAM aidsmap’s conference pages for news and bulletins from the conferences.
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Protect Against STIs Campaign
PHE has launched the third phase of its Protect Against STIs campaign aimed at young people aged 15 to 24. Latest PHE statistics show that a case of chlamydia or gonorrhoea is diagnosed in a young person every 4 minutes in England. This phase of the campaign continues to encourage young people to carry and use condoms but also has an additional focus explaining that some STIs are symptomless and can cause long-term health issues if left untreated. The campaign will utilise the digital platforms relevant to young people – including Instagram and Snapchat – and uses the music streaming service Spotify. It is supported by a range of partners including FPA and BASHH.
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National HIV Testing Week 2018
National HIV Testing Week starts on 17 November 2018. It aims to promote regular testing among the most affected population groups and to reduce the number of people who are diagnosed late or remain undiagnosed. This year’s theme is ‘Give HIV the finger’ with a message of how easy it is to test for HIV, whether at home, in a sexual health clinic, GP surgery or in community services. Download the NHTW social media pack and register any events by clicking the links below.
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World AIDS Day 2018
World AIDS day will take place on 1 December 2018. It’s an opportunity for people in the UK and worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and to show support for people living with HIV. A range of posters and social media images are available to download from NAT’s website with this year’s #ROCKTHERIBBON theme.
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FGM awareness campaign
The Home Office has released a set of posters and video to help in their campaign to raise awareness of the harmful consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM).
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Their Story, Your Choice interactive films
Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) has recently launched the first in a series of interactive films aimed at encouraging testing in black African communities and ending HIV stigma. The films are funded by Comic Relief and MAC AIDS Fund.
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Mags Portman PrEP Access Fund
THT has recently opened its PrEP Access Fund, to help up to 1,000 people in England and Northern Ireland to buy pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The fund will support people who have been unable to access the PrEP Impact Trial in England or the NHS PrEP programme in Northern Ireland, and who cannot afford the drug themselves. The fund has been named after Dr Mags Portman, who has been instrumental in pioneering awareness and support for PrEP in the UK.
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PHE Blog on PrEP
A recent PHE Public Health Matters blog looks at where we are with HIV prevention in the UK, including PrEP.
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Blog on RSE draft guidance
The Department for Education’s consultation on draft statutory guidance for RSE and Health Education closed on 7 November 2018. In this blog Liam Beattie outlines key elements of THT’s response, including the central importance of RSE lessons being relevant and representative of the needs of all pupils, including LGBT young people.
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WHO recommendations on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights
This recently released document from the World Health Organization (WHO) provides an overview of SRH and rights issues that are important for the health and wellbeing of adolescents. It also offers a gateway to relevant WHO guidelines. The document covers a range of issues, including comprehensive sexuality education, contraception provision, STI prevention and care and HIV prevention and care.
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The People’s Prescription: Re-imagining health innovation to deliver public value
STOPAIDS, Global Justice Now, Just Treatment and the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose have recently launched this new report. The report warns that health innovation is being hampered by a drive for profit and calls for a major overhaul of the system to ensure that more drugs and treatments are developed for critical health needs at prices people can afford.
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The Sexual Health & HIV Policy eBulletin was originally developed and published by MEDFASH.
It continues to be compiled and edited by Helen Christophers on behalf of FSRH and coalition partners. If you have any comments on the eBulletin or eFeature or suggestions for topics you would like to see covered in future eFeatures please get in touch (ebulletineditor@fsrh.org).
You can access previous eBulletins and eFeatures via the links below:
> eBulletin archive (MEDFASH) > eFeature archive (MEDFASH/FSRH)
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FSRH and coalition partners do not accept responsibility for the content of linked websites/items included in this eBulletin and do not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them.
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