#SpeakUp: Sheffield Foyer
For this project, Sheffield Foyer carried out surveys, conversations, and an activity day. They wanted to understand more about their residents' current levels of knowledge about sexual health, their access to sexual health services, and how barriers to them both could be addressed.
Key findings
Sheffield Foyer's #SpeakUp report reveals the key issues that impact on young homeless people's sexual health:
Lots of people don't feel confident in their knowledge of sexual health topics, such as birth control and STIs. People do know about Sexual Health Sheffield, but most don't go to sexual health screenings and don't seek information about sexual health from health professionals. They are keen to be provided with information in ways that work better for them.
There are barriers to accessing sexual health screenings and other care. Transport is one of the biggest barriers - people find the location of sexual health services inaccessible due to cost and time. Other barriers include embarrassment, not understanding the process, or not having someone to go with them. People would like to see sexual health services offer wider appointment times, more local options, and to talk to professionals they already have trusting relationships with.
Read the report
If you need the report in a different format, please email info@healthwatchsheffield.co.uk or call 0114 253 6688.
Read the response
We received a joint response to this report from Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, and Primary Care Sheffield. You can read this below.
What happened next?
We want to make sure the experiences shared through this work make a difference in Sheffield.
In October 2023 we organised a roundtable discussion, in collaboration with Sheffield Foyer, to talk about the findings of their #SpeakUp report. Representatives from public health in the Council, Primary Care Sheffield, and Sexual Health Sheffield came, along with staff from Sheffield Foyer and Cherrytree (another young people's homeless hostel).
We wanted to bring these different perspectives together to identify some practical actions that could be taken to improve sexual health for some of Sheffield's most vulnerable young people, as well as feed into the Council's longer-term approach as part of their contract review.
You can read the briefing from this meeting below. We also presented this briefing at an informal meeting of the Healthier Communities and Adult Social Care Scrutiny and Policy Committee in November 2023, which had a focus on sexual health. We will continue to share the findings wherever we have an opportunity to influence service improvement in the city.
What is #SpeakUp?
Our #SpeakUp small grants scheme awards funding to local community, voluntary, or not-for-profit groups, enabling them to engage with their communities about what matters to them.
