Long waits for specialist help fuel sexual disease epidemic

The spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhoea and chlamydia, is being fuelled by the lack of swift treatment, research has found.

People with sexually transmitted infections are facing waits of up to several weeks to be diagnosed at a specialist clinic. More than half have to wait over five days for medical attention, despite a government pledge of appointments within 48 hours.

The Liberal Democrats surveyed 149 clinics and found that the average waiting time for an appointment to treat a sexually transmitted disease was seven days.

But the survey found wide variations in different regions as to the availability of medical attention for infections such as syphilis.

In Yorkshire, 54 per cent of clinics had waiting times of two weeks or more. London had the shortest waiting times, with half of patients able to gain an appointment within two days.

The Lib Dems said the postcode lottery for treatment was contributing to the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.

Since 1995 there has been a sharp rise in the diagnosis of acute sexually transmitted infections such as genital chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and genital warts.