“The service isn’t just an NHS clinic, it’s like a community centre in the heart of Soho that serves and represents the needs of the community,” says Jon Clark, Clinic Manager of Dean Street Express, the LGBTQIA+ sexual health clinic he has worked at for the last decade. Things are still far from perfect today, but the team at Dean Street Express has played an undeniably fundamental role in improving how LGBTQIA+ people treat sexual health by providing a safe space where they can access support without fear or judgement. By the end of 2023, staff had seen approximately 695,650 patients and performed more than half a million (524,181) HIV tests, as well as dispensing 500,549 boxes of PrEP since just 2018. “We’re not just about HIV and sexual health,” explains Clark, who is also a Registered Nurse. “We’re also about supporting our communities with issues from mental health to safeguarding, gender identity, relationship support and family problems.

Source: The Times February 16, 2024 21:07 UTC