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BOOTS STORES OFFER SEXUAL DISEASE TESTS ; Walk-in Checks to Beat Infertility Bug Epidemic

Posted on: Monday, 7 February 2005, 18:00 CST

TESTS for a sexually transmitted disease are to be offered at Boots.

One in eight men and one in 10 women are thought to have chlamydia, a rate estimated to be even higher among those in their early twenties. It can lead to infertility if untreated.

Figures show the number of Londoners with sexually transmitted diseases has risen by almost a third from 169,721 cases to 228,641 between 1997 and 2003.

During the same period, cases of chlamydia among men in London rose 229 per cent to almost 10,000. In women there were 10,165 new cases - up 140 per cent.

Men in London account for a quarter of all new cases of chlamydia and 22 per cent of all women diagnosed with the disease are in the capital.

The move by Boots comes as NHS clinics struggle to cope with the demand for tests from people fearing they have contracted sexually transmitted diseases.

The walk-in test for chlamydia is being piloted at two Boots stores in the North-West. Under the scheme, the NHS foots the bill for testing while the pharmacist at

Boots provides the consultation area.

Boots is also working with primary care trusts to launch other NHS services, including smoking cessation clinics and weight management programmes.

The high street chemist is trying to carve out a distinctive niche as it battles against fierce competition from rivals such as Tesco. Supermarkets have made massive inroads into the pharmaceuticals market in recent years.

Superdrug, which has 226 pharmacies, is offering customers services linked to smoking and the brittle bone disease osteoporosis.

Source: Evening Standard; London (UK)

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