Newcastle City Council has agreed a ‘mutual termination’ of a private company’s contract to run the city’s sexual health service
Ravensworth Terrace in Newcastle’s Summerhill Conservation Area, where the city’s sexual health clinic has moved to(Image: Simon Greener/Newcastle Chronicle)
A private firm’s contract to run Newcastle’s sexual health clinic is set to be ripped up. Newcastle City Council has confirmed that it has agreed a “mutual termination” of Solutions 4 Health’s (S4H) provision of the city’s sexual health service, just two years after it was controversially taken out of NHS hands.
There were serious concerns from healthcare campaigners when S4H took over clinical sexual health services in Newcastle in October 2023, with the provision having been NHS-run for the previous 70 years, while furious staff at the clinic warned that the move risked a rise in unintended pregnancies and leaving more sexually transmitted infections untreated. Council bosses admitted this summer that the service “should and could be better”, saying in July that it was looking at “ways to strengthen the service and ensure it continues to meet local needs” – including moving to a new base in the Summerhill conservation area, which opened in September.
But it has now been confirmed that S4H’s contract will be terminated, with the service expected to transfer to an as yet unnamed provider on January 31, 2026. Alice Wiseman, the city’s director of public health, told councillors on Thursday: “We wish to reassure you that the council, S4H and the new provider (once identified), will endeavour to minimise any disruption to patients and staff as the service and staff transfer to the new provider.
“Sexual health services are obviously a sensitive topic and by making this change we hope to ensure that people in Newcastle continue to receive the essential care they need. In the meantime, the service will continue as usual. We thank you for your understanding and patience.”
The sexual health clinic was based at the New Croft Centre in Newcastle city centre at the time of the 2023 handover and subsequently relocated to nearby Hadrian House. It has now moved into a former synagogue in Summerhill’s Ravensworth Terrace, which has sparked concerns among neighbours about a lack of parking and public transport links around the Georgian neighbourhood’s cobbled streets.
Lib Dem councillor Wendy Taylor, chair of the council’s health scrutiny committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It’s vital that the council offers a high quality, accessible service for everyone needing sexual health support. If the current service isn’t providing what is needed, it is best for all the staff and patients if the contract is ended and a new provider sought. We will want to investigate further what went wrong once the full information is available.”
It is understood that S4H was the only bidder in the 2023 tender process for clinical services. The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust said at the time that it had been “unable to submit a sustainable bid” and was “disappointed to not be providing these services into the future”.
The city council confirmed that online sexual health services will continue to be provided by Preventx, a separate company who also won a contract in 2023.
The LDRS has attempted to contact S4H for a response. Its website states that it “will continue to deliver gold-standard sexual health services” and is a “trusted provider of NHS services”.