ACCESS to advice and help at a weekend sexual health clinic is no longer available after bosses claimed the session was poorly attended.

The Birchwood Clinic, based at Furness General Hospital, in Barrow, had been open on Saturday mornings for the past six months to encourage more people to be tested for sexually transmitted infections.

But bosses of the public health service - which offered testing, emergency contraception, free condoms and medication to help prevent people developing HIV if they have been exposed to it - have now moved to close down Barrow's weekend walk-in clinic after claiming the session did not prove popular enough for it to continue.

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Instead, they are extending the Dalton Lane site's weekday opening hours, after stating demand for help is higher during the evenings.

A spokesman for the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs sexual health clinics across the county, said: "Over the last six months, the trust has been trialling sexual health clinics on Saturdays across four locations in the county.

"The clinics in Barrow were not well attended, therefore, following a review of the Saturday clinic activity, the decision has been made that they will not become permanent.

"Instead, we have increased the number of walk-in clinics available during the week and extended our opening times into the evening twice a week to provide greater access when demand is higher."

They added that sexual health provision in the area will now instead be boosted by three pharmacies run by JD Murray's Ltd, in Barrow, which are offering free on-the-spot HIV and syphilis tests as part of a Department of Health pilot scheme.

Anyone can go along and undergo the simple procedures in the project designed to take promote sexual health testing on the high street.

The Birchwood Clinic operates a drop-in session on Mondays between 9am and 4pm, Tuesdays between 9am and 6.30pm, Wednesdays between 9am and noon.

Additional sessions are held on Wednesdays between 3pm and 6.30pm and on Fridays between noon and 2pm for people under 25 only.

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