10 September 2023

Recent data from the UK Health Security Agency shows sexually transmitted infections (STI) have reached record highs in England.  Access to testing, treatment and prevention care is key to tackling this.

Emerging from Covid and then Mpox, our team at Mortimer Market Centre in Camden reviewed our services for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM).

We engaged with patients, getting feedback on what they liked about the service and what they thought could be improved.  The message was clear, they described positive experiences with our teams during their appointments, what they wanted was quicker and easier access to care with the right healthcare professional for their different concerns.

With this feedback in mind, we set ourselves the goal of making access to key services as easy and convenient as possible for the GBMSM community.  Developing an online assessment tool is one of the ways we are achieving this.  By answering a small number of questions, patients are linked to one of a wide range of appointment types which are all available to book online. These in include; STI testing with our healthcare support worker team, vaccination, PrEP and symptom assessment & treatment with our nursing team and assessment of more complex symptoms with our specialist nursing and medical teams. 

In addition to this, patients are directed to our urgent walk-in services, for example, for post-exposure prophylaxis following sexual exposure to HIV.  We have maintained telephone booking for those unable to access online booking.

This service was launched in June and feedback from patients has been positive, with many comments focusing on how easy it was to book to see the right healthcare professional at a convenient time.

We have always had great engagement from the GBMSM community at Mortimer Market Centre and we remain committed to meeting their needs.  The input of our patients in developing this has been invaluable and we appreciate their ongoing feedback.  We will continue to use this to improve all our services.

Take a look at the online assessment tool.