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Ministear airson Siainte Poblach Minister for Public Health Mi cheal Matheson SPA Michael Matheson MSP F IT : 084 5 774 174 1 E: [email protected] Ms Kezia Dugdale MSP The Scott ish Parl iame nt EDINBURGH EH991SP Ur fai dhl el You r ref : KS- 21/09 /11 Ar faidhl e/ Our ref: 2011 /10187 78 2 -1 October 2011 The Scottish Government Riag halt as na h-Alba ~~Lu-. I Thank you for your letter of 21 sl September regarding the Ch almers Sexual Health Centre. Of fi ci al s have been in t ouch wi th coll ea gues at NH S Lo thian who ha ve reassured us t hat the initial teething problems you mention have, for the most part, been resolved. The staf f have wo rked extremel y hard to resolv e these init ial is sues and to ensure al l pati ents receiv e the best care and attention poss ible. The service is al so conduc ti ng a maj or patient pathway rev iew . Further improvements will be made as a result of this rev iew . Fur the r to you r con cern aro und ser vic es for y oun g peo ple , NHS Lot hia n has infor med us tha t the Ch almers Sex ual Healt h Cen tre ident ifi es you ng peo ple as a pri ori ty gro up. The poli cy of the Centre is t hat an yone unde r the ag e of si xt een call ing or vi si ti ng the servic e wi ll be seen on the same day. A consultation has be en carr ied out in order to ensure that the Centre is su it abl e fo r the needs of yo ung peo ple by as ki n g yo un g peop le t he ms el ve s what th ey requ ire. As a result of thi s consul tati on, pr eparations ar e underway to advertise spec ific ses sio ns for youn g peopl e in a ddi tion to th e existi ng pri ori ty acc ess men tio ned above. NHS Lo thian has emphas is ed that conf identi al it y was a maj or cons iderat ion in the de si gn of the Ch al mers Sexual Heal th Ce ntre. To ensure the pr ivac y of th os e at tending (bot h youn g people and adults) the centre contains a number of small waiting ar eas rather than a large central wa it in g area Du ri ng my rec en t vi si t to the Ce ntre, I wa s in formed that, wh erever pos sible, spe cific wai tin g rooms are dedic ated to you ng peo ple . NHS Lo thian has in fo rmed Sc ot ti sh Government that they are reviewing non- st atutory provision of services to you ng people, curr en tl y pr ov id ed by a number of agencies. This review pro ces s wil l be c omple ted towards the end of the yea r and NHS Loth ian has stressed that it cann ot gu arantee the co ntinued support of an yone agency over another un ti l the comp letio n of t his revi ew. Taigh Naomh Anndrais, Rathad Regent, Dun Eideann EH1 3DG St Andr ew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG www.scotland.gov.uk
