Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Warfield for raising this issue. I am aware of the petition which has been launched.

Sexual health is a priority for the Department of Health. This was evidenced by the publication of the National Sexual Health Strategy 2015-2020, the first major strategy to tackle this vital area. We have made good progress with implementation of the strategy since 2015. The Department of Health, along with the HSE's sexual health and crisis pregnancy programme, have worked hard to build important partnerships with a range of community and voluntary groups, all of which are working with us to implement and progress a range of important sexual health initiatives.

One area of concern to us all continues to be the rise in new diagnoses of HIV and other STIs. Last year saw the launch of several major actions to combat these rising rates of infection. These actions include Ireland joining the HIV Fast-Track Cities initiative, which includes enhanced access to HIV testing, along with the roll-out of a national HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis programme, which involves the pre-emptive use of low dose anti-retroviral medication to prevent HIV infection.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented interruptions to normal healthcare activity with most services affected, including STI clinics. Virtual clinics are being deployed where possible with attendance in person limited to appointment only. Service restrictions are predominantly due to social distancing requirements as waiting rooms can now only hold a fraction of patients compared with before the pandemic. Priority is being given to those with symptoms or requiring testing and treatment.

I am advised by the HSE and community health organisation, CHO 6, that the closure of GMHS relates to the necessary redeployment of personnel to Covid-19 testing and contact tracing duties. Work is ongoing with other services, stakeholders and community groups in order to provide the best possible service to GMHS service users under the circumstances.

Agreement has been reached with St. James Hospital's genito-urinary infectious diseases clinic, GUIDE, that all GMHS pre-exposure prophylaxis programme users will be facilitated there for follow-up appointments. Phonelines, the GMHS website and other resources such as man2man.ieand sexualwellbeing.ieare regularly updated to reflect current service delivery and to signpost users to the HSE list of approved pre-exposure prophylaxis programme services.

At a national level, the HSE advises that staff recruitment is ongoing with regard to the dedicated provision of Covid-19 services. It is envisaged that this will enable staff redeployed to Covid-19 related duties from other health services, including GMHS, to return to their respective positions and resume service delivery as soon as the circumstances permit.