Fears have been raised by the leader of a youth centre in Sandwich over possible changes to sexual health services in Kent.

Phil Scott, chairman of the Phoenix Centre, in Jubilee Road, said he fears the number of sexual health nurses in the county will be cut as a result of the proposed changes.

He claims this is part of Kent County Council’s budget, but KCC says it has to review all its services and nothing has been decided yet.

Mr Scott, who claims he was told up to 15 sexual health nurses could be axed, said: “Apparently a consultation is ongoing but it seems a decision has been made.

“Reductions to young people’s mental health services have destroyed the service. We’re going to see the same thing here.

“This will see numbers with chlamydia go up. Teenage pregnancy has gone down for the first time in decades. You remove sexual health nurses and these young people will not have anywhere to go. They are going to be impacted by these cuts.”

KCC funds the service but it is run by the Kent Community Health NHS Trust.

A joint statement from Faiza Khan, public health consultant at Kent County Council and Ruth Herron, assistant director for Sexual Health, at KCHT, said: “We are consulting with our teams on how we can make the transition to the new model.

“This may in some cases mean fewer nursing posts, however people should be reassured that we will work hard to manage this transition effectively and ensure that anyone who depends on or requires sexual health services will continue to have access to it.

"You remove sexual health nurses and these young people will not have anywhere to go. They are going to be impacted by these cuts.” - Phil Scott.

“Sexual health services in Kent are changing in order to respond to the changing sexual health needs of people – this is a new model which has been developed after consultation with service users and providers.”

It says the model will provide advice and support for schools to promote better sexual and reproductive health education. It will supply targeted support for people who are at greatest risk of poor sexual health.

It will also have an outreach partnership with Brook and Terrence Higgins Trust - two sexual health charities.

It says it will maintain the quality of standards for child protection and child sexual exploitation and the services will benefit from extended opening hours.

Mr Scott said the response left him with too many questions.

“To me this is a classic say nothing press release designed to placate people without actually saying anything.”