The community sexual and reproductive health services cater not only to patients from the Blackpool area, but throughout Lancashire too. The Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for all of us in the NHS. However the Sexual Health services have risen to this challenge and staff have adapted well to new ways of working.
Telephone consultations, online infection testing and video consultations in some areas like Psychosexual Counselling has allowed us to deliver patient care in a new and effective way using digital platforms.
Use of NHS volunteers has been an innovative way to arrange medications delivery for patients who may not be able to attend in person. Regular online team meetings with our service manager, medical and nursing leads of the different services ensured all staff were fully informed of changes that were occurring and any problems that might arise as a result, could be tackled efficiently.
Throughout the pandemic, face to face consultations have been offered to symptomatic patients where needed and we have thus played an important role in reducing pressures on hospital services and primary care.
An exciting development has been the community sexual health services supporting the provision of postnatal contraception in 5 maternity units.
This will have a huge impact in ensuring all women are fully supported in accessing contraception post-delivery and will reduce unplanned pregnancies.
This pandemic has also seen a strengthened working relationship between our services, general practice and pharmacists which has helped safe and smooth delivery of patient care.
These are just a few of the achievements of our fantastic team during a difficult time and worthy of recognition.