OPENING hours are to be extended at East Oxford’s sexual health clinic amid concerns about ease of access.

In April the contract to provide services like family planning and tests for sexually transmitted diseases switched from Oxford NHS Foundation Trust to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

It means people need to go to the Rectory Centre in Rectory Road instead of the Alec Turnbull Centre in Between Towns Road.

The other Oxford option is Headington’s Churchill Hospital, but county council Labour spokesman for public health Glynis Phillips said that is too difficult for some people to get to.

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And she believes the low-key opening of the Rectory Road centre’s, which currently only operates from 10am to noon on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, was not enough.

She said: “The whole point of community-based sexual health services is to be open for as often as possible so men and women who don’t want to go to their local GP can assess these services as quickly as possible.”

She said the Rectory Road clinic should be more heavily promoted, particularly given its restricted opening hours.

Mrs Phillips added: “This is not just about reducing unwanted pregnancies, there is the whole issue of sexually transmitted diseases as well.”

Hours at the Rectory Road centre were restricted as students were away for the summer, but it is now recruiting staff so it can open longer. The county council said a wider range of services will be available, but Mrs Phillips said she had not been given a starting date or details of the extended opening hours.

Hospital trust spokeswoman Alison Barnes said: “This clinic is currently open two hours a day, four days a week to meet the current reduced demand due to the university students not being in Oxford. However, there are plans to expand these hours from October as new staff are recruited.”

The trust did not reveal when the changes will come into effect or how many extra hours will be available.

Council cabinet member for public health Hilary Hibbert-Biles, said: “Both sites in Oxford now provide both contraceptive and sexual health, and sexual transmitted infection testing and treatment, which is a more comprehensive range of services than was available at East Oxford under the NHS, which only delivered contraception services.”

Elsewhere in the county clinics in Didcot, Bicester, Witney and Abingdon have also changed. Orchard Health Centre in Banbury, Newbury Street Practice in Wantage, and Exeter Surgery in Kidlington are not affected.

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