Primary and secondary sexual health services need a consistent philosophy

BMJ 1995;310:1193 (6 May)

Letters

Primary and secondary sexual health services need a consistent philosophy

EDITOR,--Sexual health care integrates the promotion of sexualhealth with the provision of services for its maintenance. Thusit combines education on reducing risks and promoting healthseeking behaviour with clinical care for contraception, abortion,sexually transmissible diseases, and the wide range of associatedproblems in one service. The need for integrated or holisticsexual health care is not a sudden, recent development but onethat has been obvious to a minority of concerned doctors forat least a generation.

Having quoted a concise definition of sexual health,¹ YvonneStedman and Max Elstein elaborate on the advantages of integratedcare but slightly misconstrue my reference to suggest that itis "unlikely to be achievable for most health authorities."²Our local service innovations were entirely designed and ledby providers,³ with education of purchasers proving an uphillstruggle. Elsewhere these developments are likely to meet entrenchedresistance from provider clinicians constrained . . . [Full text of this article]