Sexual Health Services in Somerset are facing a condom shortage due to supply issues in the Middle East.
Clinics have had to slash the number of condoms given to patients and those who request them on the Somerset-wide integrated Sexual Health Service website.
Clinics from Bridgwater to Taunton have reported shortages, with the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust saying they are ‘confident’ supplies will soon return back to normal.
A spokesperson said in a statement: ‘We are experiencing a short-term supply chain issue that means we are temporarily reducing the quantity of condoms supplied in the safe sex packs that can be requested by people.’
Weston Mercury reported the clinics affected by the shortage are:
For a full picture of the affected clinics, check out our map below.
The shortage comes after it was revealed in September that condom use hit an all-time low in the UK.
Statistics from Durex revealed the UK is 33rd out of 36 countries surveyed on condom use in the past year.
Only 11% of those surveyed said they use condoms regularly. In January, the president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV said sexual health services were close to a ‘crisis’ in regard to free condoms.
Dr Claire Dewsnap, England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty and children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza appeared in front of the Women and Equalities Committee and issued a dire update.
Sir Chris said there are about 199,000 cases of chlamydia a year, as well as about 82,000 cases of gonorrhoea, about 26,000 cases of genital warts, and 8,500 cases of syphilis.
Dr Dewsnap said many clinics have to ration free condoms: ‘People do use them if they’re available free, and people do still ask for them. But in many clinics, unfortunately, as horrific as this sounds, we ration how many we give.’
When asked how sexual health services are coping with increased demands, Dr Dewsnap said: ‘I don’t like to use the word crisis but we are very close to a crisis.
She added: ‘Access isn’t good enough. There’s no doubt about that. And there’s no doubt that that is as a result of reduced funding.
‘So we’ve had a real terms funding reduction of about £150 million over the last 10 years going to all sexual health services.
‘And that has meant that ultimately there are less staffing clinics, because the vast majority of our budget goes on staff.’
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