The Corner Clinic

The Corner Clinic

Dr Ambreen Butt

Dr Ambreen Butt
Sexual Health needs of CSW in Aberdeen
not adequately met
Needs assessment of street-workers in
Aberdeen- 2007(S. Baguley)
• Only 1/3 of women hep B vaccinated
• 1/2 using no reliable contraceptive method
• 1/3 not tested for STIs in last year
 Barriers to accessing SH services
• Discrimination
• Stigma
• Prejudice
• Limited opening hours of health services
• Lack of knowledge about free confidential
service
• Language barrier
 Other Issues
• Soliciting is an offence
• Anti-kerbcrawling initiatives – clients of
SW now can be prosecuted
PROSTITUTION (PUBLIC PLACES)
(SCOTLAND) ACT 2007
 CSW
• Differing needs as not a homogeneous
group
• Street work v indoor/parlour workers
• Male sex-workers
• Transsexuals
 Women working on the streets of
Aberdeen
• V unlikely to attend mainstream services
• Chaotic lifestyle
• Drug taking
• Homelessness
• Chronic ill-health
Street-workers v indoor workers
• More likely to have risky sex
• Less likely to use a condom
• Less likely to be adequately contracepted
• More partners
 Indoor workers
• Not visible so more difficult to target
• Numbers unknown but probably 4 x more
than street workers
• Different concerns and sexual health
needs
 Bid to Aberdeen City Council
Funded as 1 year pilot project
• Full time nurse
• Mobile phone
• Advertising
• Travel
• Condoms
• Support staff
 Plans for service
• Outreach with staff from Quay to access
women working on the streets
• Outreach with staff from THT to access
male SW
• Access indoor workers by finding contacts
in papers/ internet advertising
• Offer priority access drop in in afternoons
 The Corner Clinic
Opened officially in September 2008
• No outreach with Quay staff as tolerance
zone scrapped- nurse visiting Quay drop
in once weekly
• No outreach with THT staff as they were
unable to identify areas in Aberdeen
where men sell sex- anecdotally Golden
Square but seems to be where men go to
meet rather than buy sex
 The Corner Clinic
• Posters and cards sent to various sites
including Substance Misuse, Criminal
Justice, Cyrenians, Drugs Action and
Quay Services, Police, Marywell GP
Practice
• Internet trawl to access contact details of
individuals advertising on the net- various
sites but mostly vivastreet
• Ads in Daily Sport newspaper
• Street Liason officer for Grampian police
contacted with a view to accessing street
workers – spent 2 nights in unmarked
police car policing harbour area and
speaking to girls about service- met with
suspicion so made a decision not to
pursue
 The Corner Clinic- story so far
• 38 women attended to date
• 16 swabs taken at Quay drop in – 3 also
attended for BBV screen
• 22 identified as indoor workers
• 2 males attended as a result of texting but
deny sex work
 Infections Identified to date
• Gonorrhoea- street worker
• Hepatitis B- past infection
• Hepatitis C- past infection
• Chlamydia
 Future Plans
• Partnership working with Quay staff to facilitate
improved sexual health of street workers-
continue to provide self collection postal kits for
dual GC/chlamydia testing
• Improve provision of information – STI’s and
contraception- working on accurate flash cards
• Continue to contact and encourage indoor
workers to attend core service
• Final evaluation of project – end of August 2009
with a view to applying for continued funding-
Probably require in the region of £10,000
annually to continue at adequate level
• Acknowledgement to Dr S Baguley, SN
Colleen Finn and all staff of GU
• Also very special thanks to all staff of the
Quay drop- in for continued support