Annual Report and Clinical Governance Report 2008 to 2009

Activity
Clients of Greater Glasgow Homeless Services have benefited from the expertise of
a dedicated specialist sexual health nurse, providing clinical services and referral to
these vulnerable clients. Good communication and close working with partner
organisations has enabled improved access to sexual and reproductive health
services for clients within Homeless hostels. The increase in service activity has
included Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) provision and cervical
screening.
Base 75
Enhancing Base 75 service for women involved in prostitution
Background
Base 75 is a specialist hub for women involved in prostitution in Glasgow city centre
run in partnership with Glasgow City Council. A clinical service - encompassing
sexual and reproductive health and general medical services particularly related to
drug and alcohol use - is provided on site,with additional services offered by Social
Work and other agencies including Communiy Addictions Teams. Much of the work
involves partnership working to better address the complex issues that many of the
clients experience. In June 2006 the service changed to primarily daytime provision
to reflect the changing patterns of prostitution in the city and in response to
decreasing attendance at drop in services.
Activity
In the last year, there have been a number of developments for Base 75. The
Hepatitis B vaccination programme was rolled out to clients attending the Thursday
afternoon methadone clinic, giving an opportunity to address wider sexual health
issues with this small, mainly street involved, group of extremely vulnerable women.
Work continues between Base 75 and the addictions service, with the specialist
sexual health nurse also working within the West Community Addictions Team in
Drumchapel and Maryhill. This will continue to improve the integration of sexual
health and addictions practice in this area. Work continues at strategic levels to
improve information-gathering and sharing, with the aim of increasing support for
women to exit prostitution via Glasgow City Council’s Intervention Team.
There have been other achievements in service provision. For example, a service
audit revealed that two thirds of individuals accepted screening for Chlamydia and
that 11% of these were positive, much higher than previously documented. Nearly
90% of clients seen within the day time service are involved in indoor prostitution,
which is usually associated with less drug use and less chaotic lifestyles. It is possible
part of this shift reflects Council and Policing policy changes as vulnerable women
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