New provider of sexual health and reproductive health services to be commissioned in Peterborough

A new provider of sexual and reproductive health services is set to be commissioned in Peterborough.

At present, the council commissions the Terence Higgins Trust (THT) to provide the Prevention of Sexual Ill Health Service across the Peterborough City Council area.

The council is now set, however, to delegate the responsibility for this to Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) to act as the lead authority for commissioning the services.

The council will enter into an agreement with CCC for the period of April 2025 to March 2031. ‘

The council will contribute £11,272,590 of the total £36,112,278.00 cost with CCC covering the rest.

The service is for those above the age of 16 years, acknowledging the legal age of consent, but it will treat young people if they present with a clinical concern as an exception and will undertake a full safeguarding assessment along with any appropriate referrals.

Peterborough’s current sexual health services have been an 18% increase from 2019 to 2022/23 with the council putting this down to “virtual services, dating apps and geosocial networks along with the increase in the 15–24-year-old population.”

The number of appointments rose from 23,658 to 25,288 between those periods.

Justifying the decision to move over to Cambridgeshire Community Services, a council reports states: “CCS has had a long experience of working in the area and knows the needs of the wider population and its high-risk groups very well. The service has demonstrated on many occasions when it will flex to meet the needs of high-risk groups with complex needs and who experience inequalities.

"The service links with organisations working with these groups and there are many examples when clinicians have made exceptional efforts to ensure that high risk patients are diagnosed and treated, for example sex workers or patients not accessing their HIV treatment.

“This work has meant that the service has built up an effective trusted relationship with local providers and organisations which includes Safeguarding services, the police and housing services. These have evolved overtime and enable the service to meet the range of different needs.

"A new provider would have to develop their own relationships which would take time and would not have an organisational “memory” of addressing local issues and working in close partnership with other bodies.”