Nurse bought disabled teenager sex aid

A community nurse told how she helped ease the suffering of a sexually frustrated disabled teenager by buying him an artificial vagina.

Stephanie Courts made the revelation at a Royal College of Nursing conference in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

She obtained the vibrating sex aid after the 15-year-old patient, who was severely disabled, became distressed at not being able to satisfy his sexual urges.

Ms Courts said the case highlighted a serious issue, the lack of national guidelines for dealing with the sexual needs of physically disabled adolescents.

Her team in Worcestershire eventually drew up its own sexual health policy for the local Primary Care Trust.

The nurses addressed the problem after consulting the 15-year-old boy's parents.

Ms Courts said the team dealt "professionally with a potentially embarrassing and legally difficult situation", Nursing Standard magazine reported.

But national guidelines were still needed for nurses finding themselves in similar situations.

Ms Courts told the conference for nurses working with children and young people: "Sexual health guidance is not out there and this is shocking.

"I feel guidance on this matter should be readily available from sexual health departments, but I struggled to get help and guidance on how we should meet this boy's needs. It is about girls as well as boys and no-one seemed to be able to give us the advice we needed.

"The feedback from this lad has been positive and we have all learned a huge amount through the experience."

Previously, staff at the Helen & Douglas House Hospice in Oxford were persuaded by a patient to help find him a prostitute, said Nursing Standard.

Nick Wallis, 22, who has muscular dystrophy, told The Guardian newspaper how he approached staff in January after realising that he was unlikely to have sex before he died.

The patient's request was put through the hospice's ethics committee and lawyers were consulted.