Five Year Plan for Better Sexual Health Services in East Sussex 2025-2030
For Everyone, At Every Age
What this plan is about
Our strategy aims to offer accessible, inclusive, and high-quality sexual health services for everyone living in East Sussex. To do so, a rapid review of the sexual health needs of our residents has been completed and has been used to identify priorities and actions over the next five years (2025-2030).
Our services will continue to be available both online and in person, so residents can choose what feels right for them at any stage of life.
What we want to achieve for all
- Safe, accessible, confidential, free at the point of access to contraception and STI testing.
- Age-appropriate evidence-based sexual health education, support and care, with no judgment.
- The provision of services that address people’s needs, with particular attention to target groups and always considering protected characteristics (age, gender and gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, ethnicity, disability, pregnancy and maternity, marriage, and civil partnership).
- Ensure publicly funded sexual health services are used responsibly and provide the best value for the people who rely on them.
We can do this through
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Focusing on young people: empowering young users with the knowledge they need to make confident, informed decisions about their body and relationship, connecting them with peer support and education programmes and offering confidential support even for under 16 years old (with a safeguarding structure in place).
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Increasing access: recognising people may have complex work and life balances, including caring responsibilities. This leads to designing services and their access accordingly by providing flexible appointment times including evenings and weekends and quick access to time-sensitive needs.
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Offering support through contraceptive choices.
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Supporting sexual wellbeing for all including older age groups (over 45): acknowledging that sexual health and intimacy continue to be important throughout all stages of life, especially for older groups. This includes ensuring that sexual health services staff consider how other health conditions can affect sexual wellbeing and provide interventions accordingly.
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Being open and non-discriminatory regardless of age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, or neurodivergence. This includes adapting approaches accordingly.
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Expanding our reach to underserved targeted groups for example, homeless and rough sleepers, trafficked people, sex workers, people accessing alcohol and substance misuse recovery services, asylum seekers, and refugees, amongst others.
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Adopting an integrated approach: supporting people through life changes, including health changes and challenges, and informing them how these may affect their sexual health. This includes offering treatments that work alongside other medications, discussing concerns and alternative options, and connecting patients to appropriate services when needed.
How our services work for everyone
Below there is a description of the core offer:
Online sexual health service: SH.UK — Free STI / STD Testing & Reproductive Health (available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week). Through this link residents can access a website which will enable them to:
- Order Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) test kits and HIV test kits to use at home.
- Access Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC).
- Access condoms at any age.
- Access HIV PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) to prevent HIV.
- Currently the online services are only available to over 16 years old, but our plan is to expand this offer to 13 years old and over from September 2026.
- Get reliable information and advice on a wide variety of sexual health topics.
Face-to-face services:
We recognise some individuals are more comfortable with technology than others. For those who prefer a face-to-face consultation and assessment, sexual health support can be accessed via our specialist sexual health clinics, via General Practices and local pharmacies. To explore the wide range of face-to-face sexual health services and where to find them, an East Sussex Sexual Health website is available at East Sussex Sexual Health. Below, there is a list of the available face to face services:
- STI and HIV tests and treatment.
- Contraception and Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC) assessment and provision.
- Contraceptive implants and coil assessment and fitting.
- Treatment for STI infections and conditions.
- Support and care for complex sexual health issues.
- Psychosexual therapy for sexual wellbeing.
- Holistic Sexual health care that considers of any other health conditions.
It is important to highlight that flexibility is one of our key priorities. Our offer focuses on flexible services that adapt to residents’ needs. Service users might use different types of services at various times in their life or combine online and face-to-face care. For example:
- A busy carer or worker might order STI tests online but prefer face-to-face sexual health advice.
- An older person might get information online but would prefer in-person appointments for treatment.
- A young person might start with online education but need face-to-face support for their first contraceptive consultation.
- All health and social care services will be aware of what is on offer and able to signpost residents to our offer by using the sexual health website East Sussex Sexual Health.
Our focus for the next five years
Accessibility
- Marketing and signposting to raise awareness of sexual health services and support
- 24/7 online service and information access.
- Services available in different languages in sexual health clinics using interpreting services.
- Easy-to-read materials for people with learning disabilities.
- Physical accessibility at all clinic locations.
- Drop-in clinic sessions at all sexual health clinics.
- Large print and audio options for people with visual impairment.
- Assertive outreach working in partnership with organisations focusing on identified disenfranchised target groups (for example, homeless and rough sleepers, trafficked people, sex workers, people accessing alcohol and substance misuse recovery services, asylum seekers and refugees, children we care for and women with child removals amongst others).
Cultural sensitivity and trauma informed care
- Recognising cultural and faith-based considerations in service design to maximise access, supported by staff who are aware and confident in engaging with diverse backgrounds and beliefs.
- Staff confidently able to understand trauma and provide trauma informed care
- Same-gender clinicians available when requested.
Economic accessibility
All services are publicly funded however we will ensure that:
- All services are free when accessed (no cost to the service users).
- Provide flexible access for people who cannot take time off work or who have caring responsibilities.
High quality person’s centred care
We will train staff across the health and social care organisations to understand that:
- Sexual health needs change throughout life.
- All people deserve respectful, trauma informed, culturally sensitive and non-judgmental care.
- Effective communication is essential and should be tailored to residents’ diverse needs, for example those related to gender identity, sexual orientation, learning disabilities, or neurodivergence.
- People may prefer different ways of accessing services and everyone's circumstances and preferences are differen.t
- There are emerging risks that can affect Sexual health, for example Chemsex (the use of specific drugs to enhance sexual activity) and the impact of digital technology on sex and relationships.
This includes training for:
- GPs and practice nurses who see patients of all ages.
- Community pharmacists.
- Midwives.
- Hospital staff who might encounter patients with sexual health issues.
- Community workers supporting different age groups.
- Specialists who focus on conditions typical of life stages e.g. menopause.
- School Health team.
- Health visiting team.
Our five-year plan based on the findings of the 2025 sexual health needs assessment
The sexual health needs assessment is a tool commonly used to look at people’s sexual health to understand what support or services are needed. It helps identify any gaps and ensures the right care is available to improve health and wellbeing.
A recent review of the sexual health needs for East Sussex population was recently completed. A report with key findings and recommendations is available here: Sexual Health Rapid Needs Assessment.
In addition, research assessing Sex Workers sexual health needs was recently completed in East Sussex and the report and recommendations are available here: Sex Worker Needs Research.
Below it is presented a five year plan of actions in response to the findings and recommendations from these reports.
Year 1 (2025-2026): Building foundations
- Start comprehensive staff training across all provider organisations.
- Review online services offer for under 16s with enhanced safeguarding.
- Begin improving website and digital services with better accessibility features.
- Understand determinants of contraception uptake and trends.
- Gaining ‘real time’ data on local conception offer and uptake, including maternity data on pregnancies, miscarriages, and abortion. This will support evidence-based commissioning.
Year 2 (2026-2027): Expanding access
- Enhance age-specific service pathways.
- Launch online Doxy PEP service in September 2025. DoxyPEP (doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis) is a dose of antibiotics taken after sex that reduces the risk of acquiring syphilis and chlamydia. Clinical guidelines on the use of DoxyPEP in the UK recommend that DoxyPEP is made available for those at increased risk of syphilis, including gay and bisexual men and trans women. DoxyPEP should be considered on a case-by-case basis for people assigned female at birth, including cisgender women and trans men who are at an increased risk of syphilis. Currently DoxyPEP is only recommended to prevent syphilis not chlamydia as the health risk of untreated syphilis is far more severe.
- Engage and support community outreach programmes for different target groups (for example homeless, refugees and asylum seekers, sex workers, those using drug and alcohol services, amongst others).
- Enhance training for staff working with identified poorly served target groups as listed above.
- Improve integration between online and face-to-face services.
Year 3 (2027-2028): Strengthening connections
- Build stronger links between services for different life stages.
- Develop specialist pathways for complex issues at any age.
- Create peer support networks across poorly served groups.
- Enhance contraceptive services and uptake across all ages by increasing knowledge of contraception, ease of access to services and alternatives.
Year 4 (2028-2029): Continuous improvement
- Use innovative technology to improve services for all ages and poorly served groups for example, remote models of service access including the use of digital approaches and artificial intelligence.
- Create service champions for targeted groups and mentorship programmes linking different groups of staff.
- Expand services based on what we have learned through stakeholder engagement and national research.
Year 5 (2029-2030): Securing the future
- Ongoing service attendance measures and service user feedback will be reviewed, and evaluation of findings will help in understanding how well services work for all gender, sexual identities, ethnicity, age groups, and target groups.
- Plan the next phase of service development based on evaluation findings.
- Ensure long-term sustainability of improvements.
- Share successful approaches with other areas.
How we will measure success across all ages
We will track whether our services are working by looking at:
- How many people of different ages, ethnicities, gender, and other protected characteristics use our services.
- Whether people are satisfied with the care they receive.
- If we are reaching people who previously could not access services.
- Whether sexual health outcomes are improving across all groups.
- How well our services adapt to people's changing needs over time.
What this means in practice
Below we offer some examples of how success will look like:
A 16-year-old can access confidential contraception advice online, then have a supportive face-to-face consultation with specially trained staff who understand teenage concerns and safeguarding needs.
A 30-year-old parent can order STI tests online during their lunch break, get results on their phone, and book evening appointments for treatment that fit around work or caring duties.
A 45-year-old accessing contraception but with gynaecology issues can get information online about how these affects sexual health, then have detailed discussions with specialists who understand this life stage.
A 65-year-old with heart conditions can access services that consider their overall health, with staff who understand how medications and health conditions interact with sexual wellbeing.
Socially excluded individuals, who typically experience multiple interacting risk factors for poor health, such as stigma, discrimination, poverty, violence, and complex trauma know what is available for them and can access sexual health services easily and safely.
Local authority and NHS designated protected characteristics are always accounted for while the care and support are delivered to patients.
All partners understand the range of sexual health services available and feel confident connecting patients to them. In turn, sexual health staff know how to link residents with wider medical and community support.
This plan recognises that good sexual health is important throughout life, and that services should adapt to meet people's changing needs as they age, rather than expecting people to fit into one-size-fits-all approaches.
For further information please contact Tony.Proom@eastsussex.gov.uk or Anna.merla@eastsussex.gov.uk