Monkeypox overwhelms sexual health clinics as STI patients ‘waiting weeks’ for treatment

Exclusive: ‘People are reaching out for appointments but there’s just nothing available because there’s been so much shifting around of staff and resources to respond to monkeypox,’ says Terence Higgins Trust

Patients are having to wait weeks for STI treatments due to growing pressure on sexual health clinics driven by the monkeypox outbreak, health leaders have warned.

Rising infection rates are forcing clinics to reduce their usual day-to-day activities by 30 per cent as focus turns to identifying potential monkeypox cases and administering the vaccine to at-risk groups, according to the Terence Higgins Trust.

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) said that the monkeypox outbreak had also made it harder for people to access PreP – a preventive drug that minimises the chances of contracting HIV in at-risk groups – and long-lasting contraception, such as the coil.