FOI re Privatised Sexual Health Service

Photo: Public protest about privatisation of Sexual Health Services, Newcastle Civic Centre, September 2023

After 70 years of it being run by the NHS, the Sexual Health service in Newcastle was privatised in 2023, and we are aware that members of the public have been appalled by the steady erosion of provision over the last two years. It’s been devastating to witness a rundown of a service that was once a flagship for the North East: fully integrated and co-located with Cervical Screening, Community Gynaecology, Specialist HIV Treatment and Care, and Psychosexual Therapy. In addition to this loss, the service has been shifted from  temporary premises to temporary premises.  

Members of KONPNE were highly concerned about a comment (July 2025 – see link lower on this page) from a Council official about the need for improvements to Sexual Health services in the city.

Sadly, we were not surprised. 

We have been in touch with Newcastle City Council to find out about their specific concerns but, surprisingly, they seem reluctant to share details. We have requested information – but limited information forthcoming. We have then asked for an internal review of their decision to provide limited information only – but nil information forthcoming. All cloaked in secrecy.

We have, subsequently, discussed this situation with Chi Onwurah MP (Newcastle North and West) and also forwarded to her a link to this page, so that she has knowledge about the very limited FOI response from Newcastle City Council. We are aware that Chi has been in touch with the Council.

We have passed on our dissatisfaction to the national Information  Commissioners Office and, on 14th November 2025, we received confirmation that they will look into this situation.

Plus lots of contact with the local press and the BBC…. 

We feel strongly that issues relating to public health in the city should be in the public domain. If there is an issue about the quality of service currently being provided to the public, then the public need to know – they are OUR services and they affect US.  

And on Friday 9th January 2026 – the Sexual Health service in Newcastle is back with the NHS

Breaking news today is that the Sexual Health service in Newcastle upon Tyne is back with the NHS.

It appears that A LOT went VERY wrong with the privatised service commissioned over the past two years – disgraceful that a private provider was commissioned in the first place, and tragic to hear of the inadequate health service received by people over the past two years, and also to learn of how the staff were treated.  

Read media reports and our communications with the Council below – scroll from the bottom up.

=======================

Email from Cllr Colin Ferguson – supportive

Friday 16th January 2026

Dear Pam, 

Thank you for forwarding this correspondence to us. I would hope that you would receive a reply directly from the Director, addressing the points raised, but I wanted to acknowledge a few points arising, from my own perspective: 

• Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the Finance and Budget Monitoring Scrutiny Committee meeting, of which I was a member, on 8^th July, due to a pre-existing work commitment. Therefore, I cannot confirm what exactly was discussed there, beyond what is recorded in the minutes. However, I believe this is an example of Scrutiny doing exactly what it should: raising a relevant matter in the public domain. I believe this might have been the first public acknowledgement of concerns regarding S4H. 

• The decision to split the contract for sexual health services in two was, as I believe I have previously noted, one which my political group objected to when it was originally made, and we regret that our fears then have since been realised. I am satisfied that the new Director of Public Heath, Alice Wiseman, has acted swiftly on identifying concerns, and I would note that it was not her decision to make the split originally, or to award the contract to a private provider. I am pleased that the contract has returned to the NHS under her direction. 

• Through my role on the Council’s Scrutiny committees, and in my capacity as Leader of the Opposition, I will be keeping a close eye on, and taking a keen interest in, the performance of the Preventx contract. 

Should you have any further correspondence on this matter, please let me know. 

Best wishes,

Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee, Newcastle City Council

Thursday 15th January 2026

A report was presented to the meeting by Melissa Brown, Public Health Consultant for NCC.

CLICK HERE

to read the report

KONPNE attended this meeting today.

As far as “Solutions for Health” (the face-to-face clinical service) are concerned, Melissa Brown and Alice Wiseman, Public Health, stated that the long time taken to terminate the contract was because the concerns in each legal letter were rectified before the deadline.
For the next contract they have reinforced the terms and conditions and have introduced additional tools for terminating. The service will stay where it is based for now to prevent further disruption for staff. However at 2 years there is an opportunity to break the 5 year contact when they expect to find more accessible premises.

As far as Preventx (the digital service) are concerned, it was stated that the service had evaluated well and they had no concerns. 13,000 tests had been sent out and 10,000 returned. Any contact tracing that wasn’t carried out was due to service users not giving names or giving wrong numbers. We are asked to provide any evidence we have around contact tracing and they will investigate. 

KONPNE interviewed by BBC

Wednesday 14th January 2026

“A campaign group has celebrated the return of an in-person sexual health service to the NHS, but warned there was still long way to go to get it back up to scratch. Dr Helen Murrell, a retired GP and member of Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) North East, said the “risk of reputational harm” was significant and it would take work to get the public to trust it again.”

CLICK HERE

for the full article, published today

=======================

Email to Director of Public Health, Newcastle upon Tyne, cc Health Scrutiny Committee, local Councillors, Leader of the Council, MP

Wednesday 14th January 2026

Director of Public Health,
Newcastle City Council,

Dear Alice,

Further to your email of 10th November 2025, I am writing on behalf of Keep Our NHS Public. We are pleased that the contract for in-person sexual health services has been returned to the NHS. However, we are appalled that members of the public have witnessed a steady erosion of provision since the service was privatised in 2023 and dismayed by the likely damage done in the meantime. Clearly, S4H did not provide sexual health services that were “accessible, safe, and responsive to the needs of our residents”.

The commissioning of the service in 2023 did not appear to follow “a fair and inclusive process”. We understand that the service was split, with probably more than double the required amount being offered for the digital service, while Newcastle Hospitals felt that resources were insufficient to bid for the in-person service. Newcastle Hospitals had been providing an excellent integrated, co-located service, including Cervical Screening, Community Gynaecology, Infertility, Specialist HIV treatment and care, and Psychosexual Therapy, for 70 years. In addition, the privatised service S4H was moved to temporary premises. Why wasn’t Newcastle Hospitals enabled to start a digital service alongside their excellent Face-to-Face service, rather than splitting the service into 2 separate arms, both of which were handed over to private companies? We understand that Newcastle Hospitals had developed a better test kit for posting out to those who wanted to be screened but did not want to attend a clinic.

You will know that, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Council issued more than a dozen legal warnings to S4H between June 2024 and September 2025 regarding potential breaches of its contract.
You will also be aware that during the inspection in July, inspectors found that “new swabs and pots for chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing were being stored under the staining sink in open boxes, leaving them open to contamination”.
It is also unacceptable that eleven records lacked documentation of people’s medical history, allergies, lifestyle reviews, or safeguarding assessments, and that the service was experiencing delays in receiving test results, leading to delayed treatment.

We were dismayed to hear that a Newcastle City Council officer raised concerns about the quality of services provided by the privatised sexual health service S4H at a meeting of the Finance and Budget Monitoring Scrutiny Committee of Newcastle City Council on 8 July 2025. We are concerned that the Council has provided only limited information about the failed S4H service and no details about the actual issues. Our concerns have been passed to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which received them on 14th of November 25, and we await its opinion. We feel that issues relating to public health in the city should be in the public domain. If there is an issue with the quality of service being provided to the public, the public needs to know. Can you explain why it took so long to terminate the Contract with H4S, and was the Health Scrutiny Committee advised of the problems?

What work is being done to reconsider the commissioning process, which was supposedly “shaped by local needs, evidence, and engagement”, and which was meant “to balance service delivery across both clinical and digital platforms”? Apart from the ideology of privatisation what was the evidence that underpinned this approach?

How much money has been wasted through this privatisation exercise undertaken by the Council, and what has been the impact on clients? How many expert staff moved on or were lost to the NHS over the past 2 years? How much has it cost the Council to take back the Sexual Health Service from the private contractor, and what has been the cost for clients who have sought help out of area due to the lack of local availability?
Is there any record of the consequences of the failed service? How many patients will have had unintended pregnancies or terminations of pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, or undiagnosed illnesses, e.g., missed cancers of the reproductive organs? How much has been spent on helping those clients?
We would like to know whether there was a breach of contract and what measures are possible to recoup money that was being paid for an inadequate service.

What oversight is being undertaken to ensure that the privatised digital service, Preventx, continues to perform well and help improve access and outcomes across the city? How is this service being monitored, or do we have to wait for another CHQ inspection to find out? Did S4H and does Preventx have a suitable qualified contact tracer and how does this work, bearing in mind your responsibility for the provision of safe and comprehensive contact tracing?

The privatisation of a successfully run NHS service has caused reputational harm and a loss of trust in your services, damage beyond measure, all for the sake of an ideological insistence on putting the service out to tender rather than working with the local hospital trust to further enhance its vital service.

cc Karen Kilgour, Wendy Taylor, Andrew Herridge, Ali Avael, Teresa Cairns, Alistair Chisholm, Lara Ellis, Doreen Huddart, Mehrban Sadiq

Dr Pam Wortley
On behalf of KONP (Keep Our NHS Public- konpnortheast@gmail.com)

=======================

Your input would be welcomed. We would be grateful if you would make enquiries about this important issue to determine the cause of concern.

=======================

Reference FOI 24858

Privatised Sexual Health Services

Dear Newcastle upon Tyne City Council Freedom of Information Team

I write to request information under the Freedom of Information Act, on behalf of “Keep Our NHS Public North East”. The information you provide will be shared with members of our group.

I understand that, at around 11th July 2025, Newcastle councillors were informed by Public Health personnel that they had “identified areas where service quality should and could be better”. This statement related to the privatised Sexual Health Service commissioned by Newcastle City Council, and is recorded in the Chronicle article found at https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-sexual-health-service-nhs-32043520

I would be grateful if you would please

1) identify the date and name of the meeting, confirm who made the statement and provide minutes and the associated report (or a link) 

2) provide exact details of the cause for concern – which areas should be better – and how this negative situation currently sits with contractual arrangements. Please confirm if there is any breach of contract or related issue.

3) provide plans as to how the situation is to be remedied and monitored

4) provide a copy of the recent CQC inspection (or a link)

5) confirm the length and end date of the current contract

I thank you for your attention

John Whalley

Steering Group member