Health Advisers and the National Sexual Health and HIV Strategy

1. Health Advisers and the National Sexual Health and HIV Strategy SHASTD Conference April 2002 Patrick French

2. Themes of the National Strategy • Improving prevention • Improving clinical services • Closer relationship between prevention and clinical services

3. Implications for Health Advising • Strengthening of Sexual Health Care • HIV testing and Sexual Health • Strengthening Health Adviser roles

4. Strengthening Sexual Health • Broadening Sexual Health Care provision • Primary Health Care • Education • Liaison between services • Chlamydia Screening • Education • Partner notification

5. HIV/Sexual Health • The Promotion of HIV testing • Within Sexual Health settings • In other settings • Sexual Health services for people with HIV

6. Strengthening Health AdvisingThe Health Advisers Working Party Membership • 4 SHASTD members • DoH • Psychology • Primary Care nurse • General Practitioner • AGUM and MSSVD representatives

7. Health Adviser Working Party Purpose of the group To respond to the Health Adviser recommendations of the National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV and to develop a plan for implementing these recommendations.

8. National Sexual Health and HIV Strategy: Health Adviser recommendations • To define the roles and responsibilities of health advisers • To develop the role of the health adviser • To increase the numbers of health advisers • To develop a health advising qualification

9. Health Adviser roles and responsibilities • Core roles for health advisers to be defined with acknowledgement of important role of non clinic settings • Need for standardisation of initial health adviser training acknowledging the core roles and responsibilities • Updating of the Health Adviser handbook to reflect these recommendations

10. Research and Development • Identify gaps in current knowledge base • Health Advising research to be a priority in commissioned research

11. Health Adviser guidelines and standards • Evidence based PN guidelines • Best practice guidelines for counselling • National guidelines for sexual health promotion • A regular update of guidelines

12. Health Adviser management and organisational structure • Health Adviser networks • Working from specialist GUM/Sexual Health services • Network to include training health adviser, mentoring and senior posts • Benchmarking/standardisation of job descriptions to be developed • Submission to be included within the Pay Review Body of the NHS

13. Health Adviser numbers - minimum • Each department has health advisers • No single handed health advisers • At least one whole time equivalent health adviser for each consultant in GUM

14. Health adviser Training • Health adviser qualification by 2004 • A modular health adviser training programme (with theoretical and Practice based training) • Protected budgets for continuing health adviser education • Minimum expectations for continuing health adviser education • Registration for health advisers with State Registration as the eventual goal

15. Summary • Building on existing health adviser strengths • National Strategy as lever for change • Practical recommendations to help implementation • Work still needed on developing training programmes