Walk-in sexual health clinics are underrated

Increasingly, schools and universities alike are ridding themselves of the stigma surrounding sex and more importantly, sexual health.

While most universities have those days where you can unashamedly pick up a condom or two from your student union, there is a lack of available knowledge about walk-in youth for students seeking information about safe sex.

What you probably don’t know is that there is most likely a free walk-in clinic very near to you that provides free contraception alongside sexual health advice at specific times to young people between the ages of 16 and 20.

To give you a better idea of how walk-in clinics work, I went to one to see how it all works.

Obviously, not having to stick to an appointment time gave me leverage to go when I wanted to go, which was handy in terms of balancing going to the clinic with my lectures.

I arrived and was immediately given a confidential form to fill out, where I had to fill in a couple of details and tick what I had come there for (in this case, the contraceptive pill). It was all pretty simple.

The form I had to fill out on arrival with a list of services to choose from

I handed it to the receptionist who told me to take a seat and when my number was called out I was taken to a room where my height, weight and blood pressure were checked. This is so that the next time you visit, they can regulate whether the contraception is working for you and not having drastic effects on your weight or blood pressure.

After this, I waited till my number was called out again and I was seen by a doctor who asked me the standard family history questions, all with basic yes or no answers.

This process took all of about 5 minutes and I was handed a 6 months supply of contraception, and she even threw in a pack of 24 free condoms- what would’ve usually cost £24 in any local pharmacy/shop.

Free goodies within half an hour!

All in all it seems like walk-in clinics are a great way to dispel the stigma surrounding young people and sex. Students are now able to engage in sex safely and they can now worry less about the costs of contraception and timetabling around their current commitments to get their contraception.