Sexual and reproductive health services are a key public health priority for the NHS throughout Great Britain. As services and potential providers become more widely available, this toolkit has been developed to provide an overarching 'one-stop' publication that highlights many of the current and new pharmacy services across the UK, the regulatory and professional background to these, the drivers for change and potential routes by which services could be delivered.

How to use this toolkit?
Contents
So where should you start, and what information will be key for you?
Learning objective for pharmacists
CPD for pharmacists
CPD recording tips
Acknowledgements
Enquiries

How to use this toolkit

This toolkit includes a great deal of information as it aims to be a comprehensive resource for both pharmacists and those who design and implement new care pathways.

For pharmacist practitioners, this toolkit aims to:

• Provide a comprehensive document around sexual and reproductive health resources, with guidance and support for further education and training.

For a wider audience of NHS staff and service developers, the toolkit aims to:

• Outline and support the integration of pharmacy into care pathways for sexual and reproductive health, with useful tips and solutions to support new service developments.

Due to the nature of sexual health services, the majority of this information is aimed at primary care practitioners. However, practitioners in secondary and specialised care settings will find this a useful resource that details community care, with the potential to link with colleagues across different care settings to share expertise and deliver a more integrated service.

Contents

The following summary will help you to find the resources you need.

Section 1: Introduction
General overview of sexual health in the UK.

Section 2: The Role of Pharmacy in Sexual Health

• How pharmacy contributes to sexual and reproductive health in the UK and the different services provided by pharmacists in community, primary and secondary care 
• Why provide sexual health services from Pharmacy?

Section 3: Sexual Health Networks
Links to national networks that will help with integrating into clinical teams, and tap into expertise and support.

Section 4: Legal and Ethical Guidance
The issues and code of conduct you will need to consider in daily practice, when delivering sexual health services to patients.

Section 5-7: Country Specific Guidance – England / Scotland / Wales
Details how pharmacy can integrate into sexual heath care pathways; with links to guidance and useful resources on clinical standards and public health data. The education, training and competency resources enable pharmacists to develop their skills and gain confidence in daily practice.

Section 8: Case studies
Share learning and models of good practice such as community based Chlamydia screening and treatment, benefits of integrating into sexual health clinical networks, and supporting patients with HIV and AIDs.

Section 9: Summary of key resources
The resources listed in this section are aimed at a GB-wide audience, and are recommended to be used in conjunction with the 'country-specific' resources, included within Section 5 for England, Scotland or Wales. The resources are categorised as:

• 7.1 Patient and professional organisations
• 7.2 Pharmacy organisations
• 7.3 Clinical standards and guidelines
• 7.4 Training and education
  - - 7.4.1 Learning programmes
  - - 7.4.2 Competency frameworks
  - - 7.4.3 Other training resources
• 7.5 Public health surveillance and statistics
• 7.6 HIV and AIDS
• 7.7 Key References

The toolkit will be supported by a series of short 'Practice Guidance' for pharmacists, on different clinical topics:

• Sexual health promotion
• Detecting and managing sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Contraceptive advice and provision
• Pregnancy testing and support
• Services for people with HIV and AIDs

These aim to provide useful information and guidance for daily practice and will be added to the website as they become available over the forthcoming year.

So where should you start, and what information will be key for you?

This will vary, depending on whether you are looking for general information about pharmacy and sexual health; want to undertake some education and training to develop your skills in this field; or are looking at services e.g. to initiate new and innovative services, seeking to roll out or extend an existing one, adopting a service model that has been successful elsewhere in your locality.

The majority of sexual health policy and practice is now decided at a national and not GB-wide level. In recognition of this we have published separate, country-specific sections that cover much of the key content on clinical standards and guidance, training, competency frameworks, and public health data for that country. However some elements will still have a GB- wide scope. When using the chapter for each country, we recommend that you also refer to the Key Resources and References, in Section 9 to see if there are additional GB-wide resources that may be relevant.

I want a general overview of pharmacy and sexual health

The first two sections set the scene, giving some general background to this topic, GB-wide sexual health data, and how pharmacy contributes to public health by the provision of different sexual health services across all sectors of practice.

I would like to undertake some education and training in sexual health

Have a look at the education resources and training providers for your country in Sections 5-7. We recommend also checking Section 9 for GB-wide resources. The case studies will help to put some of this information into a practical context, and the short 'practice guidance' documents will support you in your daily practice.

I would like to develop new pharmacy-based sexual health services

A good starting point will be the country-specific chapters. These identify the health and pharmacy policy in your country, including the national sexual health strategy and any pharmacy policy relating to it. Each chapter details how NHS Sexual and Reproductive Health Services are delivered within the community pharmacy contractual arrangements. Shared learning from the stakeholder group has helped to identify some of the issues and solutions that have arisen during the development and implementation of pharmacy-based sexual health services.

Section 2 gives an overview of the full range of existing and emerging pharmacy–based sexual health services and is useful if you want to design integrated service models, with links across the different elements of pharmacy services, and to and from other providers. The case studies will help to put some of this information into a practical context.

I want to develop a business case for sexual health services from my pharmacy

You will need to start with a good local needs assessment, giving some background information on your local community. We recommend using the country specific sections; these will provide links to public health data, and other national resources and useful learning on barriers and solutions to service developments. The case studies will also help to put this information into a practical context and provide a useful point of reference.

I am looking for evidence of pharmacy-based sexual health services

The case studies provide a detailed overview of current successful services across the UK. These are supported by the published references in Section 9.

Learning objective for pharmacists

This toolkit will help pharmacists to achieve the following learning objectives:

1. An understanding of sexual and reproductive health service provision in Great Britain and how pharmacy contributes
2. Awareness of the professional 'pharmacy' issues around sexual and reproductive health
3. An overview of the resources available to help pharmacists develop new skills, knowledge and confidence; to deliver more integrated and high quality services around sexual and reproductive health.
4. An understanding of the legal and ethical guidelines around sexual health.

CPD for pharmacists

Now think about your CPD; a few things to think about:

• Having read this toolkit what have you learnt?
• What can you apply to your current practice?
• Has reading this toolkit made any difference to your understanding of sexual health issues across the UK?
• Will it change the way you approach sexual health issues and why?

CPD recording tips

If you planned to read this toolkit as part of your identified learning objectives you will start recording at planning. Was your learning objective met?

If you had not planned to read this, but have now read it, you could start at Action.

In both it is important to say what you learnt and what you will do or have done in your practice as a result of the learning.

Do you now have an understanding and awareness of the pharmacy professional issues around sexual and reproductive health? Are you now able to deal effectively with a request or problem relating to sexual heath? If no, what else can you do to further enhance your skills and knowledge in this area?

Acknowledgements

The Society would like to thank all those who contributed case studies, including the focus group members, for their advice and expertise in the preparation of this resource.

List of Acknowledgements

Enquiries

If you have any enquiries about this document, please send an email the Support team.