People ‘more likely to seek sexual health services after bank holidays’

People are far more likely to seek information about their local sexual health services after a bank holiday, research suggests.

New data from NHS England suggests that visits to an NHS website search tool aimed at helping people find local sexual health services increase by 38% following a bank holiday.

Page visits to the tool increased to an average of 7,414 in the 24 hours following the summer bank holiday weekends in May, June and August last year – equivalent to one visit every 12 seconds.

This compares with a daily average of 5,387 visits to the find-a-sexual-health-clinic search tool for 2022, NHS England said.

The tool lets people search for a sexual health clinic in their area by entering their town, city or postcode.

Last year’s May Day bank holiday saw 6,840 visits to the search tool on Tuesday May 3, the research suggests.

The Jubilee bank holiday weekend, which gave people time off on the Thursday and Friday, also saw a hike in page visits to 7,628 on Monday June 6.

There was also a peak following the August bank holiday weekend, with 7,774 visits on Tuesday August 30.

Robert Cleary, NHS England’s content director for the NHS website, said: “Our find-a-sexual-health-clinic page is designed to help people search for the most appropriate service to meet their health needs, within their local area.

“The NHS website is available every day of the year for anyone who needs it and provides information and advice in easy-to-understand language on a wide range of conditions, making it accessible for all and easy for people to receive health advice and support from a trustworthy source.”