Standards
for the management of sexually transmitted infections
(STIs)
Standards
for the management of sexually transmitted infections
(STIs) published in January 2010, are designed
to support the commissioning and provision of
high quality care for STIs across all settings.
These standards were produced by MedFASH for
and with the British Association for Sexual
Health and HIV (BASHH)
and they have been formally endorsed by a number
of Royal Colleges and professional associations.
A leaflet for service users about the Standards
is also available. Click
here
for more information about the standards and
to download the resources.
Latest!
From 26 April 2010, a poster
about the standards is available for display
in clinic waiting rooms and other public settings.
Tackling
HIV testing: increasing detection and diagnosis
This resource pack, produced
to help increase rates of HIV diagnosis in hospitals,
contains educational slide sets, template documents
and background information. It will assist HIV
specialists who wish to support their colleagues
in other specialties to offer HIV testing more
routinely in their daily practice. The resource
pack was launched at the British HIV Association
(BHIVA)
Autumn Conference (8-9 October 2009) and is
now available to download from the Tackling
HIV Testing section of our website.
SHout
Loud (Sexual Health Out Loud): www.shoutloud.org.uk
SHout Loud is a website helping local people
and organisations have a say about sexual health,
contraceptive and HIV services in England. This
is a collaborative project between the six leading
sexual health national charities AHPN, Brook,
fpa, MedFASH, National AIDS Trust (NAT) and
Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). Click here
for more information or visit www.shoutloud.org.uk.
Royal
College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Introductory
Certificate in Sexual Health
MedFASH, working with the RCGP, has developed
the Introductory Certificate in Sexual Health,
which is appropriate for GPs, Practice Nurses
and other practitioners working in general practice
at all stages in their careers. For more information
about the course and future training dates please
check the RCGP
website.
Conference:
More progress, same priorities? Review of the
National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV
and beyond - the challenges of implementation
This national conference, organised by Conventus
with MedFASH, was held on 10 September 2009
and provided a unique opportunity to learn more
about the Government
response to our review of the national sexual
health and HIV strategy, and to explore the
practicalities of implementing the recommendations
in our report of the review, (see below).
For more information and to download the speaker
presentations please click here.
London
sexual health needs assessment & service
mapping
MedFASH, in partnership
with the London Health Observatory (LHO) and
Health Protection Agency (HPA) managed the first
sexual health needs assessment and service mapping
across London. To download the reports, or for
more information on this project, click here.
HIV
for non-HIV specialists
A third of HIV-related deaths are due to late
diagnosis. MedFASH has developed a booklet for
healthcare professionals in secondary care who
are not HIV specialists, to help them improve
their skills and confidence in diagnosing HIV.
The booklet complements new national HIV testing
guidelines (see below). Click here
to download a copy of the booklet. For information
on ordering copies, click here.
Progress
and Priorities - working together for high quality
sexual health. Review of the National Strategy
for Sexual Health and HIV. The Independent
Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV commissioned
MedFASH to undertake a review of the National
Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV. The full
report, Progress and priorities - working
together for high quality sexual health, published
in July 2008, can be downloaded by clicking
here.
To see the executive summary, click here.
UK
National Guidelines for HIV testing 2008
New guidelines were developed by the British
Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH),
the British HIV Association (BHIVA)
and the British Infection Society (BIS)
to facilitate an increase in HIV testing in
all healthcare settings. MedFASH was a member
of the writing group and jointly launched the
guidelines with our HIV for non-HIV specialists
booklet on 17 September 2008. The Health
Protection Agency (HPA)
issued a press
release to mark the launch.
10
high impact changes for genitourinary medicine
48-hour access
Produced by the Department of Health's National
Support Team for Sexual Health and MedFASH,
this best practice guide provided measures that
could be implemented quickly and on a scale
that enabled 48-hour access to a local GUM service
by March 2008. This document followed on from
the guide
'Top tips' to support 48-hour GUM access
which was produced by MedFASH with the Department
of Health to support delivery of the 48-hour
access target for GUM. Drawing on lessons learnt
from the national
review of GUM services, the 'Top
tips' guide was circulated to SHA chief
executives with a covering
letter from Richard Gleave (Director of
Performance, Department of Health).
