Why was SXT formed?
The mission of SXT is to support access to sexual & reproductive health services. The drivers to improve access are one person being diagnosed with HIV every 90 minutes in England & over half being diagnosed after they should have started treatment, half of all pregnancies being unplanned, syphilis infections the highest since the 1950’s, gonorrhoea becoming more difficult to treat, one third of women having an abortion had had one previously and 85,000 serious sexual assaults a year (http://bit.ly/W0CoNt).
The importance of access is clear for time sensitive services, such as post exposure prophylaxis following sexual exposure [to reduce the risk of contracting HIV (PEP)], emergency contraception (EC) or sexual assault but it is also essential for patients who are symptomatic (e.g. first episode of anogenital herpes) and need prompt access to treatment and relief. The detailed information within SXT reduces time wasting for patients and services because it reduces inappropriate referrals (e.g. the oral EC recommend depends upon the number of hours since unprotected sex). In addition, SXT supports the ever-changing number of sexual & reproductive health services by allowing providers to edit and control their web presence as well as review activity and see why clients have selected their service.
What is SXT?
SXT (www.sxt.org.uk) is a free & anonymous platform for clients to find the right service in the right place at the right time as well as a powerful public health marketing tool for providers & commissioners. The latest upgrade in August 2013 made it possible to upload providers from other databases, share the SXT service data with other web services and clients plus capture feedback. There are currently over 2500 providers in SXT and this includes the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV clinics, all out of hours PEP providers (A&E services), UK sexual assault referral centres, HIV testing centres and GPs in England. Fourteen percent of SXT users give feedback on the clinic locator service and 85% give a score of eight or more out of ten.
How SXT works for clients and providers?
The best way to see how SXT works for clients is to go onto the website and try it for yourself. SXT has been designed to work on SMS, mobile and web. All the information fits within a mobile phone text message and SXT strives to limit the digital divide to access information until there is near universal smart phone adoption. Everything on the website & SMS responses can be edited or changed and the decision trees adapted. If users have ideas or suggestions they can send it to feedback@sxt.org.uk so that the service can continually improve. Providers can register or claim an uploaded service via the home page and it takes minutes to ensure that the service is up to date.
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