Lewes Sexual Health Clinic Could Close As Service Users Go Elsewhere

The potential closure of a drop-in sexual health clinic in Lewes is set for consideration by a senior county councillor.

On Wednesday (June 4), Cllr Carl Maynard, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for adult social care and health, is expected to make a decision connected to The Circle Room — a young person’s sexual health service in Lewes High Street.

Cllr Maynard is being asked by officers to approve a “targeted consultation” on the potential closure of the service, a measure expected to deliver a revenue saving of £45,000 per year.

In a report, officers say the drop-in service had originally been intended to cater for patients who were either not registered with or otherwise unable to access a GP Surgery to receive sexual health and reproductive services. Officers say the service was no longer primarily-used by this cohort.

The report reads:

“It has been identified that the drop-in services at the Circle Room are potentially no longer as essential or cost effective as originally modelled given the shift in the cohort of users, as described above, and the range of suitable alternative services that are now available, including the face-to-face sexual health specialist service, the council’s online offer, sexual health provision by local pharmacies and sexual health provision by GP practices, amongst others.

“However, prior to making any decision about the future of the services provided at the Circle Room, it is important for the council to engage with the affected service users to gather and understand their views.

“Given these services are accessed by a discrete section of the population, a full public consultation is not a proportionate use of resources.

“The Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Health is therefore recommended to agree that the council undertake a targeted consultation to seek views about the proposed decommissioning of drop-in services at the Circle Room in Lewes.”

When first established, council officers say, most of the young people attending the Circle Room had been non-registered patients. Officers say this is no longer the case, with 75 per cent of the service’s 216 users in 2024 having been registered at GP practices.

Of the 56 non-registered patients who used the service in 2024, only six had been East Sussex residents, the report adds.

Currently, the service offers ‘drop-in’ sexual and reproductive health sessions for people aged up to 25-years-old for three hours each week.

These sessions include: sexual health consultations; access to emergency hormonal contraception (i.e. the morning after pill); the provision of free condoms; and screenings for Sexually Transmitted Infections STIs, including HIV.

The report goes on to say that some of the services offered by The Circle Room — specifically emergency contraception and free condoms — are also now being offered by community pharmacies. The report says this change in provision is relatively recent, having come into force in 2023.

If approved, the council is expected to carry out the consultation in the coming months and report its findings back to Cllr Maynard for a decision in “due course”.