{"id":87456,"date":"2016-03-23T18:26:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T18:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/?p=87456"},"modified":"2026-04-04T11:14:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:14:49","slug":"libraries-offer-sexual-health-services-cancer-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/libraries-offer-sexual-health-services-cancer-support\/","title":{"rendered":"The libraries that offer sexual health services and cancer support"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Coventy City Council works with a local NHS trust to provide advice on sexual health and cancer in its libraries.<\/p>\n

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\"PoweredThis article titled “The libraries that offer sexual health services and cancer support” was written by SA Mathieson, for theguardian.com on Wednesday 23rd March 2016 09.44 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

You expect to see books in a library. You might not expect free sperm keyrings \u2013 available in classic white or translucent with red sparkles \u2013 along with the offer of sexual health advice and 60-second HIV tests.<\/p>\n

That is why staff from the Coventry and Warwickshire partnership NHS trust\u2019s integrated sexual health service set up a stand in Coventry\u2019s Central Library every Thursday. \u201cBeing here, we get to the people who can\u2019t get to us,\u201d says Steven Clay, a senior sexual health nurse.<\/p>\n

People who don\u2019t want to visit a sexual health clinic after work can visit the library on their lunch break, where staff can carry out tests and provide advice in a private meeting room. \u201cSome people say I\u2019ve seen the sign but I don\u2019t want to come over because I\u2019m embarrassed. So I text back and say come straight to meeting room three,\u201d says Clay. <\/p>\n

Public library services are increasingly providing health information, but Coventry city council takes this further than most. It runs health-related events, with a women\u2019s wellness and fun day held on International Women\u2019s Day, including a Zumba class, sari-tying and a writer\u2019s workshop. Regular ones include free over-40 health checks, a mental health drop-in service and support with breastfeeding.<\/p>\n

The last event is held alongside Rhymetime, whose infant participants fill the library with Hokey Cokey. Sorrelle Clements, service development manager for Coventry\u2019s libraries<\/a>, says that some people with health worries rush to their GPs and demand attention, but \u201cthe people who are reticent, or don\u2019t have English as a first language, or have so many multiple things going on in their lives that they put themselves last don\u2019t have that option\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, they may visit Coventry\u2019s Central Library to use its 50 free computers, to read books in 12 foreign languages or to bring their children or grandchildren to Rhymetime. \u201cWe use these events and opportunities to push life-changing messages,\u201d Clements says, over the sound of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.<\/p>\n

As well as the local NHS, Coventry is working with cancer support charity Macmillan. Last summer, the city installed Macmillan information points in five of its 17 libraries, providing leaflets and CDs, and has trained 73 of its library staff in effective listening and local cancer support services. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to have that place in the community where people could access quality cancer support information, but also to provide training to library staff so they would be able to signpost on when the information needs were more complex,\u201d says Ceri Brettle, the city\u2019s Macmillan library services co-ordinator, whose 18-month post is funded by the charity.<\/p>\n

Brettle moved from a training role at pub chain JD Wetherspoon, where she raised money for cancer charities. As well as setting up the training, she has worked on where to place Macmillan\u2019s information in libraries. Central Library has two large stands and smaller displays within specific sections, including the library\u2019s health and wellbeing zone and the children\u2019s \u2018Books to help with life\u2019s up and downs\u2019 section.<\/p>\n

The foreign zone has leaflets from the charity on cancer symptoms in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu as well as details of its multilingual support line, which are unmissable in the middle of the library\u2019s books in these languages. The city asked Macmillan to provide this information in Romanian following work with the local Roma community, and this is now available online. So far, 2,300 leaflets and CDs have been taken from the information points, with 90 enquiries or conversations.<\/p>\n

Kim Diprose, information and support programme manager at Macmillan, says that about a dozen of its 200 information services are run with library services, with Glasgow city council having set up information points in all its 33 libraries and regular advice sessions in more than half. The charity is assessing their effectiveness.<\/p>\n

Most of its information services are based in NHS buildings, but Diprose says libraries offer a useful alternative for those who are ending treatment and have seen enough of hospitals. \u201cPeople tell us they want to be able to access information when they need it in the place that suits them,\u201d she says. \u201cSome people find it daunting to go into something that\u2019s clearly a cancer-related environment, and sometimes libraries can be less intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coventry also uses books to boost users\u2019 health. It provides books on prescription for mental health and dementia, and will soon add titles for children and teenagers. This is a national scheme in which 87% of public library authorities participate and through which GPs and other NHS staff can prescribe a book by printing and signing a form available locally on Coventry and Rugby clinical commissioning group\u2019s GP Gateway intranet. <\/p>\n

Clements says few people hand in the prescription form at a library, with many preferring to find the book anonymously; the titles, which are displayed in special stands, are borrowed a lot. The library service manages the stock carefully and if a title isn\u2019t available on the shelf, \u201cwe\u2019ll go to the ends of the earth to get it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n