Updated 11 October 2022
Healthy Young People (HYP) Southwark is part of a larger organisation, Brook Young People, which provides several services across London including clinical services, counselling, education and training for young people and professionals and condom distribution schemes. The service is jointly funded by the London Borough of Southwark.
HYP Southwark provides confidential sexual health services, support, and advice to young people under the age of 25 and is recognised as a level 2 contraception and sexual health service (CASH). As a level 2, HYP Southwark provides contraception, emergency contraception (EC), screening for infections, pregnancy testing, and termination of pregnancy referrals, sex and relationship information and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI) and the fitting of intrauterine devices, when the nurse is present.
The service operates an appointment only service for young people up to age 25 from a clinic in Southwark.
Young people can order free STI home test kits and access the ‘come correct’ free condom scheme.
HYP Southwark also provides wellbeing support and a sex and relationship education-training programme for local schools. In addition, the service provides support, guidance and advice to young people who are transitioning to adult services for their ongoing sexual health and contraceptive needs.
There were nine permanent members of staff, including the nurse manager, service manager, senior administrator and receptionists. There were two vacant posts, a clinical nurse specialist the service was hoping to recruit to and a CASH nurse (which was filled by a long term bank nurse at the time of our inspection visit). All nurses and client support workers (CSW) were employed as a pool of staff and worked at other locations across London.
HYP Southwark had a Registered Manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons.’ Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Family planning
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
Our inspection team
The team that inspected the service comprised two CQC inspectors and a specialist advisor nurse who specialised in sexual health services.
What people who use the service say
We spoke to three young people and reviewed feedback to the provider. All the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. All the young people we spoke to confirmed that staff were caring, professional, knowledgeable, and sexual health and respectful. They described staff as non-judgemental and feeling safe at appointments.
Feedback collected through the provider indicated young people felt comfortable using the service and would return, ‘made me feel at ease’ and ‘I was a bit anxious before coming here, but the staff were really nice and friendly and made me feel very comfortable.’