HIV and genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in South West London are reporting tremendous increases in demand for their services.
Data from the Mayday, St Helier, St Georges, Queen Mary’s, and Kingston hospitals show a 43% increase in attendances in the last five years (from 68,537 clinic visits in 1998 to 98,032 clinic visits in 2002) and a 20% increase in the last two years (up from 81,870 in 2000).
The increased demand for GUM services over the past five years from the local population has been particularly pronounced. New gonorrhoea diagnoses have increased by 85% in the last five years from 722 cases in 1998 to 1333 cases in 2002. Meanwhile new chlamydia diagnoses have increased by 150% over the same time period (from 1428 cases in 1998 to 3577 cases in 2002).
One twelfth of all patients treated for HIV in London receive their care at one of these hospitals. The number of patients treated by these clinics has increased year on year since 1998 (from 627 patients to 1303 patients in 2002- a rise of 108%.
The number of HIV tests carried out has increased by 42% in the last year and 78% over the last two years. A total of 11,547 HIV tests were carried out in 2002. This compares to 5530 tests five years previously.