The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Free condoms cost health board £60,000
Expenditure rises as demand falls
NHS Tayside has spent close to £60,000 on free contraception and sexual health advice for youths during the past five years, with expenditure increasing despite demand for the service falling to a five-year low.
Between 2012 and 2017, the health board set aside £59,678 for the operation of the C-Card scheme.
The service allows young people to register to receive free condoms.
Figures gathered as part of a Freedom of Information request show NHS Tayside spent £12,545 running the service between last year and this year.
The figure is an increase on the previous year, despite new sign-ups for the service falling to their lowest level in five years.
Between 2013 and 2017, youths registering for a new C-Card has fallen from 344 to 98.
Despite the fall in numbers, NHS Tayside has spent £2,000 more on the scheme during 16/17 than in 2012/2013.
Members who sign up to join the scheme will qualify for free contraception and advice for as long as they are within the applicable age group.
Commenting on the free service, Ann Eriksen, NHS Tayside’s executive lead, sexual health and blood-borne viruses, said: “NHS Tayside continues to promote the importance of using condoms as part of safer sex and provides free condoms for young people as well as for other populations at higher risk of STIs and HIV including gay and bisexual men.
“Young people can access free condoms with or without a card.
“The scheme is anonymous, but young people aged under 16 are required to sign up, have a one-to-one chat and a condom demonstration with a trained worker.”
Ms Eriksen continued: “Although the number of condoms issued has increased in the last five years, we know we need to do more to encourage young people to see using a condom as a routine and important part of taking care of their own and their partners’ sexual health.
“They are the only method of contraception that also provide effective protection against HIV and other STIs.
“That is why we worked with young people to design a condom app, which was launched earlier this year. The C-Card app can be downloaded free and provides useful information on how and where to obtain free condoms.”