Young persons' access to genitourinary medicine clinics in the UK: a cross-sectional survey

Study design: this service evaluation of genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in the UK was designed to quantify access for young people requesting to be seen and to establish whether they could be seen outside school hours.Methods: in December 2009 postal questionnaires were sent to all lead clinicians in UK GUM clinics asking when they expected a young person would be offered an appointment and whether it could be outside school hours. Between January and March 2010 trained male and female medical students posing as 16 year olds telephoned all GUM clinics listed on the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV website with symptomatic and asymptomatic scenarios and requested an appointment after school hours.Results: 99% of the 152 responding clinicians estimated that an appointment would be offered within 48?h for both male and female contacts and over 90% could be seen outside school hours whether symptomatic or not. Of the 666 clinic telephone contacts, 88% were offered an appointment within two working days, and 66% were offered an after school appointment within 2?days. There was no significant difference whether the ‘patient’ was symptomatic or not (87% vs 86%, respectively, p=0.784) in being offered an appointment within two working days. There was variation between countries, with England performing significantly better; 94% were offered an appointment within 2?days versus 58%, 55% and 67% for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively.Conclusion: the findings would support the impact and value of process targets on service deliver