Tuesday 24 June 2008

Brook opens new sexual health services for young people in Luton

Brook will be opening new sexual health services for young people in Luton aged up to 25 from Tuesday 1 July.

Brook, commissioned by Luton teaching Primary Care Trust (tPCT), will provide a wide range of services including access to condoms and other contraception including long-acting reversible contraception and emergency hormonal contraception; STI testing and treatment; Chlamydia screening; education and outreach work; pregnancy testing, counselling and advice on options in pregnancy; as well as services specifically for young men.

The service will offer six open-access clinical sessions a week with a limited number of appointments available at certain sessions. The opening hours are:

  • Monday 12.30pm – 5.30pm
  • Tuesday 11.00am – 3.00pm
  • Wednesday 3.00pm – 8.00pm
  • Thursday 2.00pm – 6.00pm
  • Friday 1.30pm – 5.30pm
  • Saturday 12.00pm – 3.00pm

An open day for local health professionals will be held on Monday 30 June from 10.00am – 3.00pm offering the opportunity to drop in to meet Brook staff and discuss Brook services.

The Brook service offers a new service for young people in Luton, separating the existing single sexual health services for all ages into two services, one for under 25s and one for over 25s. The Teenage Pregnancy Unit ‘Deep Dive’ reviews produced information on factors affecting teenage pregnancy rates at a local level and highlighted a need for services to be more focused on young people.

Jackie Boath, Chief Executive for Brook East of England, said: “We are delighted to be extending Brook’s reach and working with Luton tPCT to provide sexual health services to young people in Luton. Providing young people with access to contraception, advice and counselling around sexual health is vital to allow them to make the choices that are right for them concerning their own sexual health.

“We will be consulting with young people in Luton and professionals that work with young people to deliver targeted outreach services and will work with relevant agencies such as schools and colleges on the ongoing development of our services.”

Morag Stewart, Associate Director of Public Health, Luton tPCT, said: “Luton tPCT is very pleased to be working with Brook to improve the provision of sexual health services for young people in Luton. Brook has an excellent track record of providing services for this age group and for working with young people to ensure that the services they provide meet their needs. We know that the sexual health of young people can be crucial to their long-term life choices and achievements, so it is very important that we provide excellent services for them.”

Brook Luton is based at: 1st Floor St Nicholas House, 15-17 George Street, Luton LU1 2AF. Contact 01582 748580 email maryb@brookcentres.org.uk.

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For media enquiries please contact Natalie Collyer, Press Officer, on 020 7284 6062 or 07500 786 762

Notes

Brook is the UK’s leading provider of sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. The charity has more than 40 years’ experience of working with young people and currently has a network of more than 50 services in 18 areas of the England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Jersey.

Brook services provide free and confidential sexual health information, contraception, pregnancy testing, advice and counselling, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and outreach and education work, reaching more than 200,000 young people every year. www.brook.org.uk