The Corner

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 workerscontinue 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 fundingProbably 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