Evaluation report
An Audit Cycle Highlighting the Rate of Chlamydia Screening in a Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit in Birmingham
Ugalahi T, Hassan H, O'Brien J ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This audit examined chlamydia screening rates among adolescents aged 15 and over in a forensic mental health unit in Birmingham. The initial audit found that only 11.5% of patients were screened for chlamydia despite 36.8% meeting the criteria for screening. After recommendations were made, a re-audit showed improvement, with 25% of eligible patients screened. The audit suggests that integrating chlamydia screening into the admission process could improve sexual health outcomes for vulnerable young people in forensic settings.
Key points
- Initial audit screening rate was 11.5% despite 36.8% of patients meeting screening criteria
- Re-audit showed improvement to 25% screening rate among 41.7% who met criteria
- Physical health forms were completed for 73.7% of patients in initial audit but completion did not correlate with screening rates
- Study population comprised adolescents aged 15+ in three mixed-sex forensic wards (2 medium secure, 1 low secure)
- Recommendations included integrating chlamydia screening into standard admission procedures
Limitations
This is a small-scale audit with limited sample sizes (19 in initial audit, 12 in re-audit) at a single forensic mental health unit, so findings may not be generalizable to other settings or populations. The audit did not assess barriers to screening implementation or examine clinical outcomes for screened or unscreened patients.
Abstract
Aims Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted bacterial infection caused by Chlamydia Trachomatis can result in long-term complications for affected individuals. The National chlamydia screening programme recommends screening at-risk young persons, however for the vulnerable patients at the Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS), there has been no audit to determine the completion rate. This audit aim to (1) Determine the demographics of young persons on admission (2) To determine the rate of chlamydia screening as well as the percentage of patients who qualified for a Chlamydia screening(3) To determine the rate of documentation for completed tests. Methods This was a retrospective study. The medical electronic records of patients who met the inclusion criteria was searched. All the three mixed-sex adolescent forensic wards (2 medium secure units and one low secure unit) at FCAMHS Ardenleigh, Birmingham were sampled. All patients that were on admission aged above 15 years of age were recruited. A total sample size of 19 was obtained for the initial audit and 12 for the re-audit. Data collection Data were collected by the author for the initial-audit and re-audit by searching the clinical progress notes, the investigation results and the physical health rethink forms. An excel software was used for analysis. Results Demographics There were 11 males (57.9%) and 8 females (42.1%) in the initial audit In the re-audit, there were 7 males (58.3) and 5 females (41.7). Some of the patients were still on admission at the time of the re-audit, hence the percentages were calculated differently. The mean age and average length of admission was also calculated. Chlamydia screening In the initial audit, the percentage of patients tested for Chlamydia was 11.5%, even though 36.8% of patients met the criteria for Chlamydia screening. In the re-audit, 25.0% were tested, and 41.7% met the criteria for Chlamydia screening. Physical health (Rethink) forms The physical health form was completed for majority of patients 73.7% in the initial audit although, this was not compatible with screening rates. Before the re-audit was concluded, the physical health forms were no longer in use. Conclusion The audit highlighted an overall improvement in the rate of screening following recommendations from initial audit. The inclusion of Chlamydia screening in admission processes could be useful in improving sexual health.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Recommendations from initial audit results to improve chlamydia screening procedures and documentation at admission
- Population
- Adolescents aged 15+ admitted to forensic child and adolescent mental health wards in Birmingham
Key finding
Screening rate increased from 11.5% to 25% between initial and re-audit