'Secret' exit created to boost attendance at sexual health clinic

Published on Wednesday 13 May 2009 09:57

A "SECRET" corridor is being created at a new sexual health clinic to enable patients to attend without being spotted, it has emerged today.

The first images of the 9 million "one-stop shop" on Lauriston Place have been released today. Following consultation with patients, a separate exit area has been planned for those concerned about walking out after treatment. Patients will take a route out of the hospital that avoids the public areas, and into a side street.

The first of its kind in the UK, the new GUM clinic in the former Chalmers Hospital building enables people from across the Lothians to be tested, diagnosed and treated under the same roof.

Dr Gordon Scott, lead clinician for service integration in sexual health, said that taking people's feelings into account was important alongside the clinical treatment offered at the new facility, and that the views of individuals were being taken on board during the design process.

He said: "Sexual health can be a sensitive area and we want to ensure people feel comfortable using our services."

NHS Lothian bosses are keen to not only develop one of the best sexual health facilities in the country, but also to breathe life into a building that has fallen into disrepair in places.

The city council has given the go-ahead to the plans which will see the demolition of parts of the building, a three-storey extension and complete refurbishment to the interior. Images show a sedum, or grass, roof and glass panels bridging the old and new buildings.

STDs are on the rise across the Lothians, ranging from more cases of infections like gonorrhoea and chlamydia, to the even more worrying rise in HIV cases.

Dr Ailsa Spindler, the national director in Scotland for sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, said anonymity and discretion were paramount in encouraging people to be tested.

She said: "Anything that gets people in to be tested is to be welcomed. We know from surveys that, particularly with HIV, there is a stigma attached to sexually transmitted infections."