From today's Derby Evening Telegraph - has anyone here been tapped on the shoulder mid thrust and been given their free gift?
FREE NHS CONDOMS GIVEN OUT TO DOGGERS
Workers from Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust have been visiting secluded places across the county where people take part in the practice known as dogging.
But the trust would not tell the Evening Telegraph which areas were being targeted, how much the initiative cost or how workers actually handed out the condoms.
However, the trust did reveal that it was giving out contraceptives on a weekly basis and said it had a duty to protect the dogging participants, the communities in areas where it took place and the sexual health workers who ran the outreach service.
Local councillors have criticised the move ? saying giving out free contraceptives will encourage the behaviour.
John Wardle, Ashover parish councillor, said a picnic spot called ***** in the north of the county and the car park at ***** were known dogging hotspots and he believed they had been targeted by NHS workers.
He said: "I think this is absolutely bonkers and a complete waste of NHS resources.
"These doggers are desecrating our local beauty spots and we are trying desperately to discourage them. I think we should be planting nettles or gorse, not giving them free condoms."
Dogging can involve having sex with different partners and meeting strangers at an agreed outdoor location.
A car park near ***** in Ilkeston is also thought to be a popular spot. Ernest Bevan, councillor for Ilkeston North, criticised the NHS for "wasting money".
He said: "Giving these people condoms will only encourage promiscuous behaviour when really the police ought to be going out to book them."
Derbyshire NHS bosses said they were working with the police and local councils on the initiative.
They said the cost of providing condoms was much less than the cost to the NHS of treating sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia and HIV.
Richard Marriott, co-ordinator for sexual health services at Derbyshire PCT, said: "If we didn't undertake such preventative measures the overall cost to the NHS would be much higher, as the average lifetime cost to the NHS of treating a person diagnosed as HIV positive has been estimated at ?150,000."
The trust said it had been handing out free condoms to doggers on a regular basis since the 1980s.
John Evans, Mayor of Darley Dale, has arranged a meeting with the NHS and police after it emerged that sexual health workers were visiting people who had sex in a lay-by in *****, near Darley Dale. He said: "The primary care trust is just trying to stop people getting horrible diseases but this does raise issues of public order, which concerns me."
***** Park in Derby is also a known dogging hotspot but falls under Derby City Primary Care Trust, which says it does not provide free condoms at dogging hotspots.
A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police said: "We had a meeting with Derbyshire PCT about this ? we are not supporting it but we are not against it. It's their initiative.
"Dogging is an arrestable offence under public decency laws and if a member of the public reports an incident we will investigate it."
***** edited to remove specific place names ....not that you'll be able to get anywhere near 'cos of all the DET readers on a night out!