Is basing sexual health clinics in schools a good idea?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
A pilot project has seen sexual health clinics for young people set up in secondary schools in Bristol. The local primary care trust now intends to continue funding the clinics over the long term (CYP Now, 18-24 June).
YES - Annie Evans, medical director, Brook Young People's Services, Bristol
Young people need to get all the sexual health advice they can, and as soon as possible. In schools, we can engage with a large number of young people in a setting that is comfortable for them. You can't put up barriers to sexual health advice, because if you do, young people will wait until it becomes a serious problem.
It's encouraging that boys are able to come to sexual health clinics in schools. I'm aware of arguments against having them in schools, such as that they encourage young people to become sexually active, but research has proven that this is untrue. YES - Rhiannon Holder, young person's representative, Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group
Young people need sexual health services that are easy to access, open at convenient times, and situated where they hang out. This makes schools an ideal place. On-site health clinics are more likely to attract young men who wouldn't often go to their GP or a community clinic.
School-based services mean there's no excuse to bottle up your problems; they also offer help and advice on a wide range of health issues, not just sex, often with youth workers and counsellors available as well as a nurse or doctor. We need more of them.
NO - Norman Wells, director, Family Education Trust
Supplying contraception and the morning-after pill on school premises gives the impression that it is normal for school children to engage in sexual activity.
Confidential health clinics in schools are part of a mix that is removing the restraints that previously limited under-age sexual activity.
There is no evidence that increasing young people's access to contraception results in lower teenage conception rates.
Instead, it encourages some teenagers to become sexually active when they would not otherwise have done so.
NO - Clarissa Williams, president, National Association of Head Teachers
It's not a good idea unless the school is an extended school where there is a health authority service, of which sexual health is one aspect.
The message we want to give is one of responsibility. There is also the issue of where it would be situated. Do we put it around the corner and hide it away? Children need to know that there are other agencies that can provide them with support. Schools are resistant to everything being put on them. It would be okay to have a sexual health clinic in a school if it was fully resourced by the local health authority.
