The Department of Health recurrent-targeted funding for GU medicine clinics: what happened to the funding?

Abstract

The Department of Health provided two recurrent targeted funding of £5 million and £3 million for genitourinary (GU) medicine services in 2003 in response to the increasing waiting times for appointments. The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV conducted a survey to find out if the clinics continued to receive their full allocation, if not, the reasons for it, and the workload change from 2002 to 2004. Out of a total of 91 responders, 78 were from acute trusts and 13 from primary care trusts (PCTs). Of the acute trusts and PCTs, respectively, 67.9% and 76.9% received the full allocation; overall 30.8% did not receive their full allocation. In all, 86% of clinics had increases in their workload and of the 26 clinics with shortfall of funds, 24 (92.3%) still managed to increase the workload. This survey showed that the funding and other measures have increased the workload capacity, and also highlights the continuing problem of many clinics in not receiving their full allocation. Such clinics should be targeted for early review by Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health with involvement of the Special Health Authorities and PCTs in the current national review of GU services.