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Whittall Street Clinic is featured in Channel 4's new programme ‘The Sex Clinic’, starts 10pm Thursday 11th April.
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New Rapid HIV Testing clinic at St Martin’s in the Bullring
Now open every Tuesday 11.00am - 3.15pm - no appointment needed.
The clinic is located upstairs in the St Martin’s Centre for Health & Healing next to the Church in the Bullring. Entrance to the clinic is via St Martin’s church shop.
Too old for sexually transmitted infections?
A significant number of older adults (individuals over 50 years of age) continue to have sexual activity well into later life. Over recent years, there has been an increase in the rates of different sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, amongst older adults in the UK. The risk of STI and HIV transmission is particularly high in older adults because of thinning of the vaginal wall and vaginal dryness that occur after menopause.
Many older adults, however, believe that they are not at risk of STI. The common mis-belief that older adults do not engage in sexual activities adds to the stigma.
Many older adults may become newly single through divorce, separation, or death of their partners. A number of those individuals start new sexual relationships without using condoms. For older adult women, because pregnancy is not a cause of concern, condom use does not seem pertinent. Some of the older adult men may relate use of condom to worsening of their erectile dysfunction.
Many older adults find it difficult to seek medical help and advice about STIs with their doctors. Concerns about the gender of the doctor (when older adults find it difficult to discuss their concerns with a doctor of the opposite sex), doctors’ attitude towards sex in later life (when older adults are concerned that their doctors may judge them if they knew about their sexual history), and the older adults’ own attitudes towards sex at an older age (belief that people should not have sex after certain age) have been identified as most common reasons.
Lack of knowledge about STIs and HIV leads some of the older adults to relate their genital problems and symptoms to “normal ageing”; preventing them from seeking medical advice.
Current figures show that a significantly higher proportion of older adults infected with STIs and HIV are diagnosed late. It is therefore important for older adults to follow the same advice for STIs as for younger adults: to use a condom in all their sexual encounters and to get tested for STIs and HIV regularly.
At Whittall Street Clinic we have clinicians from both genders at all our clinics. Our staff are fully trained to offer a non-judgmental and fully confidential service. We will never inform the GPs without our patients’ permission.
You can book your appointment for confidential and free testing here.
