Councillor Lucy Knight visits sexual health service, John Hunter Clinic

On Wednesday 19 August, Cllr Lucy Knight, Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, visited the sexual health team at John Hunter Clinic (JHC) and Kobler clinic to learn more about the vital sexual health services they provide across the borough and beyond.

JHC and Kobler, located at the St Stephen’s Centre (SSC) next to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, offer a wide range of sexual health, contraceptive services and HIV care, including vital outreach clinics in the community.

Cllr Lucy Knight was welcomed by Laura Bewick, Hospital Managing Director, Gurmit Jagjit Singh, Clinical Lead, Consultant physician in HIV and Sexual Health, and James Hardie, SSC Clinic Manager, along with other team members who shared more about the team’s essential outreach initiatives and specialist clinics. They also highlighted the importance of a joined-up, holistic approach to sexual health care across the borough, working closely with partners to improve access, address health inequalities, and ensure local borough-based initiatives are supported so that services may respond to the specific needs of our communities.

The visit follows the launch of a new outreach collaboration between JHC and Golborne Canalside Health Centre, with the JHC team now running a weekly sexual health clinic in the community primary care setting. During the visit, the team were also joined by Dr Yasmin Razak, who trained at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and who was instrumental in establishing the partnership. The initiative brings specialist sexual health services closer to local patients while providing the same standard of care and range of contraceptive options available at the main clinic. 

Dr Yasmin Razak, GP Partner and Post Graduate Trainer at Golborne Canalside Health Centre, also attended the visit. She said: “Lucy’s visit is timely given the launch of the JHC sexual health clinic at Canalside Health Centre last week. It was great to share more about this invaluable outreach, helping us to tackle health inequalities and barriers for patients in areas of high deprivation.We are excited about the future potential of this model and the opportunities it presents to expand access to care for more patients.”.

Gurmit Jagjit Singh, Clinical Lead, shared “It was a pleasure to welcome Cllr Lucy Knight and showcase the vital work of our sexual health teams. Our new outreach clinic at Golborne Canalside Health Centre is a real example of how local leadership and partnership working can really make a difference to patient care".