Standards for sexual health services
Background
Scotland's national sexual health and relationships strategy,
Respect and Responsibility: Strategy and Action Plan for Improving
Sexual Health, was launched by the Scottish
Government in January 2005. A range of actions were set out in
Respect and Responsibility to enhance sexual health promotion,
education, and service provision. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
(NSH QIS) was tasked with taking forward the development of
clinical standards in relation to sexual health services provided
by or secured by NHSScotland.
The standards are complemented by the development of key
clinical indicators and sexual health information by the National
Sexual Health Advisory Committee (NSHAC) along with an emphasis on
sexual health data analysis by Information Services Division (ISD)
and Health Protection Scotland (HPS).
Development of the standards
NHS QIS appointed a project group in the summer of 2006 to take
forward the development of service-level standards. An advocacy
group, consisting of non-statutory sector representatives, was also
appointed to work in parallel with the project group to ensure user
and potential user issues remained central to the development of
the standards.
The standards development process highlighted from the outset
that remote and rural areas face specific challenges in delivering
generic and specialist sexual health services. NHS QIS convened a
remote and rural meeting of executive directors, lead clinicians,
health promotion and public health professionals from NHS boards
with the highest percentages of population living in remote and
rural areas to discuss these issues prior to the publication of the
draft standards.
The draft standards were published in July 2007 and consultation
took place between July and November 2007. Following extensive
multi-professional and public input, the draft standards were
revised in light of this consultation prior to the publication of
the final standards for Sexual Health Services in March 2008.
Details of the project group¿s response to each consultation
comment is available from the standards development unit upon
request.
Next steps
Implementation of standards: budget impact
NHS QIS is developing further tools to assist NHS boards to
implement the standards. The main focus is on a self-assessment
form and related guidance. These tools accompany all NHS QIS
standards. However, there is evidence that the lack of robust
information on the resources required and associated costs is one
of the biggest difficulties in developing plans to implement
clinical guidelines. The budget impact report is an attempt
to reduce this barrier by providing an estimate of the costs to
implement some key criteria within each standard. It should be read
in conjunction with the relevant standards.
The report summarises the principles and processes adopted and
sets out the important assumptions for each key criterion. The
results show that the total cost to implement the key criteria in
each standard is about £4.5 million in 2007/08 prices.
See also
Respect & Responsibility Strategy website
Key Clinical Indicators
website
Published Date: 1 April 2008
