Clinical Standards

Updated Service Standards for Workload in Sexual and Reproductive Health

This guidance is aimed at clinicians who are consulting remotely with patients through a digital channel (e.g. online, email, text, video-link) across healthcare settings in England. We expect the key principles in this document to be generalisable across the UK.

Read and download the new FSRH Service Standards for Consultations, published in June 2020.

Read the updated Service Standards for Confidentiality in SRH Services.

The rapid expansion in the number of providers of online Sexual and Reproductive Health/Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (SH/SRH) services has enabled and empowered users to access their healthcare in more ways than through a face-to-face consultation with the health care professional. The FSRH and BASHH support these innovations and recognise that these services have enormous potential. They are seeking, however, key assurances in the standards of care and quality of services provided.

Contemporaneous and high quality record keeping is an important aspect of clinical risk management. It ensures that clinicians and other staff have timely access to information relevant to the patient’s current episode of care. It facilitates clear communication to other involved clinicians justifying decision-making for actions taken. In the event of complaints, untoward incidents and medico-legal cases, accurate and comprehensive documentation supports prompt resolution. In addition, good clinical records support audit, management, planning, policy, commissioning and research. Download the document and save.