Health Ambassadors – South Tyneside Sexual Health Service

‘South Tyneside Youth Health Ambassadors are a group of volunteers aged 14-17. The ambassadors have been trained to undertake inspections of health services, to offer information and advice to their peers and to run their own health campaigns’. The ambassadors act as advocates for their peers to make health services better for young people in South Tyneside.In January, South Tyneside Sexual health opened up its doors to the health ambassadors and South Tyneside Council’s Public Health team, providing an insight as to what the service offers and giving the young people a guided tour of the clinic.

Here is what the health ambassadors had to say

In January, a group of us all 16 +, as health ambassadors, made a visit to Palmer’s sexual health clinic in Jarrow. The purpose of our visit was to have a tour around the service and see what they offer young people in way of STI screening and professional advice. From our point of view, we thought that their services were excellent. The consultation rooms had quite a welcoming feel to them and we felt that people of all ages would feel quite comfortable and at ease being treated/consulted in one of these. The members of staff who dealt with us were extremely charismatic and you could instantly tell that they would be able to put someone at ease who was maybe less confident at entering a sexual health service. They were extremely informative when talking to us and we felt that when we left, we already knew quite a lot about the different services which Palmer’s hospital offers for their patients and anyone who requests help from them. There were points within the website which we felt were really well thought through and accessible for the majority to use. For example, the layout made the website very easy to follow and find everything which you may want or need to. The drop down menus made it extremely easy to navigate and this makes the experience of using the website all the more easy and enjoyable. Overall, we had a very enjoyable visit to Palmer’s sexual health clinic and we were very impressed with the majority of services and staff which are available to use.

Here is what the health ambassadors had to say

We made another visit to Palmer’s sexual health clinic to meet with one of their staff members in regard to looking through some questionnaire statistics from a select number of students. We were trying to look at different methods to which sexual health services can reach wider numbers of young people, in particular Palmer’s sexual health clinic. We understood that getting young people through the doors to these services is actually the hardest part and Palmers is really trying to advertise their services more and make themselves much more accessible to the younger generation. When we visited the services in January, we, as health ambassadors, noticed a small number of things which we felt the service could do to improve how they operate, such as minor improvements to the website to make it more accessible and user friendly. Since then, Palmers have acted upon our suggestions and it was a pleasure to meet with their staff for the 2nd time. I hope it won’t be the last time which we work together and hopefully there will be many more times in the future which we can visit the services which Palmers has to offer young people.

Hi hope you are all well,

Firstly, may we take this opportunity to praise and thank you for the fantastic work you are delivering in the community, well done health ambassadors.

Many thanks for giving up your spare time, to visit our service and give us your feedback which we value greatly. We are pleased you enjoyed your visit to the service.

We are committed to provide the best patient care and visitor experience possible, many thanks for the comments regarding our staff.

Keep up the great work you are all delivering in the community

Best wishes

South Tyneside Sexual Health

Sexual Health Service: Thank you