Leeds sexual health: STI testing services to go under scrutiny in year-long review

A Leeds City Council report said the review, which is likely to take more than a year, would “make sure it best meets the changing needs and demand of the population” and would be focused on improving the service.

The council outsources the running of Leeds’ main testing centre for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which is based at the Merrion Centre.

Community clinic sessions are also run in the Armley, Beeston Hill, Chapeltown and Burmantofts areas of the city, while an “outreach team” delivers help to parts of the population who might be reluctant to come forward for testing and treatment.

It’s not known at this stage what the outcome of the review will be or what it will ultimately mean for staff or patients, though people who use the service and employees will be consulted during the process.

But the council hinted it would “reflect” on “different types of demand and ways of working” and would try to “learn” from the pandemic, when a lot of testing and treatment was provided remotely.

The council said it had hoped to have completed the review by April 2023 but that this would now be impossible because sexual health services were still battling the “legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent outbreak of monkeypox.”

The service, which is run by Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust on the council’s behalf, was rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following its last inspection in 2019.