Sexual health clinics are not being given the funding allocated to them by the government, a report has claimed.

An audit by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV found that only half of clinics in England had received their share of the £5 million announced by the government at the end of last year.

In contrast, when the money was allocated by the Department of Health last year, rather than via primary care trusts, nearly 90 per cent had received their funding by January.

Published in the Health Service Journal, the survey found that more than 40 per cent of genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics had received no funding, or a reduced amount.

"Unless government concerns about the rising incidence of sexually transmitted infections, and the need to reduce the inequalities in provision, are made more explicit to PCTs (primary care trusts), it appears inevitable that many will fail to comply with DoH guidance about targeted funding allocations," said a BASHH spokesman.

His comments were echoed by Lisa Power, policy officer at the Terrence Higgins Trust.

"This is an example of a central government imperative which has not got through to PCTs," she said.

"We want to see more support for PCT commissioners of sexual health services."

Funding

The findings have been submitted to public health minister Melanie Johnson.

"We have given additional funding to PCTs specifically to improve sexual health services," she said.

"They need to demonstrate that this additional money has been used appropriately.

"This survey appears to show that this is not happening in all areas, and this is a cause for concern. I will be investigating these claims carefully."

But the results were described as "disastrous" by shadow health secretary Tim Yeo.

"STIs have increased but not one extra GUM clinic has been created since 1997," he said.

"It is simply unacceptable that the government has not ensured that money reaches the frontline.

"STIs must be treated as quickly as possible but last year we heard that waits of up to six to eight weeks were not uncommon.

"Labour is not giving the country's sexual health crisis the attention it deserves."