Global pharmaceutical company Bayer has formed a strategic partnership with young people’s sexual health and wellbeing charity Brook, to transform sexual health services across the UK.
Brook, which has been providing young people with sexual health and wellbeing support for more than 50 years, currently provides 16 sexual health services in local communities working in partnership with the NHS. In 2016 the charity supported more than 235,000 young people from 73% of local authorities in England.
Brook Chief Executive Helen Marshall said: ‘We are delighted to be working in partnership with Bayer to improve our dedicated services for young people, with a particular focus on contraceptive services. This invaluable support comes at a pivotal time as sexual health services prepare for a £30 million reduction in public health funding in 2017/18.’
The partnership will have a particular focus on long acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods, some of which are over 99% effective. One method of LARC, the IUD, is also the most effective form of emergency contraception.
The aim of the Brook-Bayer partnership is to ensure that all young people have access to the full range of contraceptive choices through Brook’s existing and new services. Brook identified gaps in the range of contraceptive offerings that they are able to make available to patients and in the training of their healthcare professionals. They would like to ensure that going forwards they are able to provide a full range of contraceptive methods to ensure that patients receive information and access on the full choice. The joint working project will develop:
- An IUC fitting service available for patients in each of the existing Brook services and any new services
- Patient pathways and signposting to ensure access to fitting services.
