Report calls for better data collection to improve sexual health in England

Gaps in information are impeding progress in improving sexual health services provided by the NHS in England, warns a report published last week.

The Healthcare Commission, the body that monitors the quality of NHS care in England, found that gaps in the current data make it impossible to track implementation of guidelines and to recognise where improvements are needed in sexual health services.

As a result, services are limited in their ability to target groups at high risk; to use data to plan and to allocate resources where they are needed; and to monitor people's access to services and levels of sexual health.

Improving sexual health was one of the top six priorities for the NHS in its plan for 2006-7. The United Kingdom has the highest rate of teenage …