Here is
a short description of some of our current and
recent activities. To find out more about any
of our projects or to suggest new ideas (including
possibilities for collaboration), please get
in touch.
Standards
for the management of sexually transmitted
infections (STIs)
Recent NHS policy,
as well as ongoing implementation
of the National strategy for sexual
health and HIV (Department of
Health, 2001), has led to the commissioning
of sexual health services in a wide
range of settings. A number of existing
documents provide relevant guidance,
but there was no single set of agreed
standards to govern the operation
of all services offering STI management.
Wishing to promote
consistency of care, BASHH
therefore initiated this project,
in partnership with the Royal College
of Physicians (RCP)
and other key professional organisations,
to define standards relevant to the
management of STIs in all settings.
MedFASH managed the project for and
with BASHH.
With
the active involvement of a multidisciplinary
working group, we produced draft standards
for consultation in summer 2009, when
representative bodies were invited
to respond with the views of their
members. A final version was formally
endorsed by the Royal College of Physicians,
the Royal College of General Practitioners,
the Royal College of Nursing, the
Health Protection Agency, the Faculty
of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare,
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain, the Society of Sexual
Health Advisers and the Genito-Urinary
Nurses Association (all represented
on the project advisory group).
The standards were
launched in January 2010, along with
a leaflet for service users summarising
what the standards mean for them.
In April 2010, a poster for display
in clinics and other suitable public
venues was also produced. A limited
number of printed copies of the poster
are available to order from BASHH.
This resource pack
will help increase rates of HIV diagnosis
in hospitals. Educational slide sets,
template documents and background
information 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 is now
available to download from the Tackling
HIV Testing section of our website.
For the press
release, please click on the link
below:08.10.09 MedFASH, Doctors
need more guidance to test for HIV
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).
More and more decisions
about health services are now taken
at a local level and decision-makers
have to take the views of local communities
into account. This means that the
voice of the public is more important
than ever and people can have a huge
impact on changing and improving sexual
health, contraceptive and HIV services
locally. SHout Loud aims to empower
people to affect local decisions and
improve sexual health in their communities.
The SHout Loud website
features an interactive map, which
you can use to access local sexual
health, HIV and teenage pregnancy
statistics, find out about local NHS
and Local Authority plans and targets
related to sexual health, and take
action to improve sexual health in
your area by contacting local decision-makers
using our 'Take Action' button. Visit
the website on www.shoutloud.org.uk
to take action now!
Royal
College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Introductory
Certificate in Sexual Health
Working with the RCGP
Sex Drugs and HIV Task Group, MedFASH
has managed the development and piloting
of the RCGP Introductory Certificate
in Sexual Health.
Aimed at generalist clinicians and
practice nurses already trained and
working in general practice this course
provides a basic grounding in sexual
health issues.
To obtain the certificate, participants
need to complete an e-learning module
on the RCGP website Sexual
Health in General Practice and
attend a face-to-face training day.
Progress
and priorities - working together for high
quality sexual health. Review of the National
Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV
The Independent Advisory
Group (IAG) on Sexual Health and HIV
advises the Government on implementation
of the National Strategy for Sexual
Health and HIV. In 2007, it commissioned
MedFASH to undertake a review of the
strategy, funded by the Department
of Health.
We gathered information
through desk research, expert groups
and regional meetings with multidisciplinary
professional stakeholders and with
service users. The review report,
Progress and priorities - working
together for high quality sexual health.
Review of the National Strategy for
Sexual Health and HIV, was published
in July 2008 and launched at the House
of Lords by Baroness Gould, Chair
of the IAG.
The report highlights
the changing context since the strategy's
publication in 2001, outlines progress
to date and identifies drivers and
barriers to the strategy's implementation.
It provides recommendations in five
strategic priority areas for action
at local, regional and national level.
Click here
for a copy of the full report, or
here
for the executive summary.
Conference:
More progress, same priorities? Review of
the National Strategy for Sexual Health and
HIV and beyond - the challenges of implementation
The National Strategy
for Sexual Health and HIV (2001) set
out an ambitious ten-year programme
to tackle sexual ill-health and modernise
sexual health services in England.
A review of the strategy and its implementation
was undertaken in 2008, resulting
in the report Progress
and Priorities - working together
for high quality sexual health,
produced by MedFASH for the Independent
Advisory Group (IAG) on Sexual Health
and HIV.
One year on from the
publication of Progress and Priorities,
this conference provided a unique
opportunity to learn about the Government's
response to the review and to explore
the practicalities of implementing
its recommendations at local and regional
level.
We are very grateful to the speakers
who have all agreed to share their
presentations via the MedFASH website.
To download them, please click on
each speaker's name:
London
sexual health needs assessment and service
mapping
MedFASH has managed
the first sexual health needs assessment
and service mapping for London, in
partnership with the London Health
Observatory (LHO)
and Health Protection Agency (HPA).
The project was established
to assist the NHS in London in its
task of further developing and delivering
high quality and world class sexual
health services. It set out to provide
a detailed picture of sexual health
needs and the current commissioning
and configuration of sexual health
services. It also aimed to provide
national learning for the Department
of Health (DH) about the process of
undertaking a regional needs assessment
and service mapping.
Commissioned by Lambeth
Primary Care Trust (PCT) on behalf
of London PCTs for the London Sexual
Health Programme, the project was
jointly funded by the DH Sexual Health
Policy Team, the DH National Support
Team for Sexual Health and the London
Sexual Health Programme. In managing
the project, MedFASH commissioned
the LHO which worked with the HPA
to produce the needs assessment. A
Project Advisory Group, whose membership
was drawn from commissioners and providers
across London, offered expert advice
and guidance throughout the project.
The following project
reports were published by MedFASH
in November 2008.
In addition, the LHO
has produced an interactive web tool
enabling comparison between sexual
health indicators at London borough
level and a workbook with supplementary
tables. The web tool can be accessed
at the LHO
website.
HIV
for non-HIV specialists
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 and supports
the aims of the
National strategy for sexual health
and HIV (Department of Health,
2001) to reduce the prevalence of
undiagnosed HIV and the stigma associated
with HIV infection.
The purpose of the project was to
normalise consideration of HIV in
non-HIV specialist clinical settings,
and thereby increase opportunities
for early diagnosis of HIV infection
and also to improve the quality of
healthcare for people with diagnosed
HIV in those settings. Click here
to download a copy of the booklet.
To order copies, click
here.
The booklet is now
part of our new resource pack Tackling
HIV Testing: increasing detection
and diagnosis produced to help
increase rates of HIV diagnosis in
hospitals. Its educational slide sets,
template documents and background
information 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 is available
to download from the Tackling
HIV Testing section of our website.
10
High Impact Changes for Genitourinary Medicine
48-hour Access
The 10
High Impact Changes best practice
guide provided measures that could
be implemented quickly and on a scale
that, by March 2008, was enabling
48-hour access to a local GUM service.
We were commissioned
by the Department of Health to organise
an expert reference group, collate
feedback, comments and case studies
from this group and draft a practical
guide for the Department of Health
to refine and publish (December 2006).
National
review of Genito Urinary Medicine services
In 2004 we were commissioned
by the Department of Health to manage
a national review of genito-urinary
medicine (GUM) services, as part of
the implementation action plan for
The National Strategy for Sexual Health
and HIV. The review aimed to:
undertake an assessment
of each GUM service in England,
highlighting factors which help
or hinder their ability to offer
a prompt and high quality service
offer recommendations
for service improvement and modernisation
arising from each assessment, relevant
for GUM service providers, their
local primary care trusts and strategic
health authorities
provide findings
and recommendations from the review
to the Department of Health
Initiated in partnership
with the British Association for Sexual
Health and HIV (BASHH), the project
started in June 2004 and the programme
of visits was completed in May 2007.
Click here for more information
on the project.
During the project,
we produced a 'top
tips' guide to support delivery
of the 48 hour access target for GUM.
This guide drew on lessons learnt
from reviews of GUM services and was
circulated by Richard Gleave to SHA
chief executives with a covering
letter.
There are about 53,000
people living with HIV in the UK. Antiretroviral
therapy has dramatically reduced HIV-related
deaths in the UK, but an estimated 14,300
people are still undiagnosed and therefore
unable to access this potentially life-saving
treatment. Many people with HIV, both
diagnosed and undiagnosed, are using
primary care. MedFASH aims to support
GPs and the primary care team in reducing
rates of undiagnosed HIV infection and
providing quality primary healthcare
for their patients with HIV.
In December 2004,
we published HIV
in primary care, an essential
guide for GPs, practice nurses and
other members of the primary healthcare
team, written by GPs Dr Sara Madge,
Dr Philippa Matthews, Dr Surinder
Singh and Dr Nick Theobald. The full-colour
booklet focuses particularly on clinical
diagnosis, offering HIV testing, side-effects
of antiretroviral therapy which may
be seen in primary care, and how GPs
can complement specialist care for
people with HIV. It presents practical
information in an attractive and easy-to-use
format, with photographs to illustrate
the section on the main HIV-related
conditions and their symptoms.
The booklet is currently
only available in pdf format to download.
If you would like to be informed when
a new printed edition is available,
please email us at enquiries@medfash.bma.org.uk
Recommended
standards and networks for sexual health services
In March 2005, we published Recommended
standards for sexual health services
(download
pdf or order
a printed copy).
A key tool for providers,
commissioners, performance managers
and service users, the recommended
standards will support local
delivery of commitments in the public
health White Paper and the National
strategy for sexual health and HIV.
Covering 10 aspects of service provision,
including guidance on service networks,
they are relevant to all settings
providing NHS-funded sexual health
services, including general practice,
hospital and community-based clinics,
pharmacies, and organisations in the
voluntary and independent sectors.
Supported by an expert advisory group,
MedFASH developed the standards through
consultation with a wide range of
stakeholders.
The recommended standards
are based on the principle of delivery
through service networks. MedFASH
organised a national conference,
on 16 May 2005, on sexual health
service networks. To access
the conference presentations click
here.
We published a practical
guide to the development of sexual
health and HIV networks in 2006.
A cornerstone of
the National Strategy for Sexual Health
and HIV, the Recommended standards
for NHS HIV services covers
12 aspects of service provision for
people with HIV and offers guidance
on managed service networks. The recommended
standards serve as a tool for planning
and auditing service development,
a framework for commissioning and
a resource for partnership between
service users and providers. The House
of Commons Health Select Committee
has recommended their use by strategic
health authorities in the performance
management of trusts.
We found out about network development
in HIV and other areas of healthcare,
and drafted a guide for HIV network
development. During the guide's development,
we held five multidisciplinary seminars
in different parts of England which
offered support to those who were
involved in developing such networks.
Participants were given a working
draft of the practice guide and their
feedback, plus that of some stakeholder
organisations, was used to help us
improve on the first draft.
We
mapped and facilitated the development
of HIV service networks in the NHS
in four parts of England - the South-East
(Kent, Surrey & Sussex), West
and North Yorkshire, the South-West
and the West Midlands.
The
project
report contains recommendations
and key findings. To order a printed
copy click
here. You can also find a short
description of what we learnt in an
article in the July 2001 edition of
the AIDS and Hepatitis Digest from
the Royal
Society of Medicine Press.
Promoting
wider availability and use of HIV testing
MedFASH has prioritised
work in this are for many years. In
addition to the various activities
described above, earlier work included
partnership with the Sheffield Department
of GU Medicine to develop and pilot
a patient leaflet on testing in GUM
clinics - see
Use of a leaflet to replace verbal
pretest discussion for HIV: effects
and acceptability, published in
the journal of Sexually
Transmitted Infections
(2003;79:243-245). A leaflet for non-HIV
specialists, published in 1998, Take
the HIV Test, is still available
to download from our publications
archive.
Policy
work and consultations
MedFASH provides authoritative
responses and briefings to government and
other policy-makers on current policy issues.
Click here
for more information and for details of
current and past work in this field.
