Public health spending slashed by 6% across Lancashire

Sexual health services have been cut by 25% since 2014

Published 2nd May 2018

New figures show how Lancashire's public health spending has been cut by more than 6% in the past five years.

According to GP magazine Pulse, 90% of councils in England are slashing weight management, sexual health and addiction services.

In Lancashire, sexual health services have faced cuts of 25% over the past five years, dropping from £11,282,000 to £8,514,000 between 2014 - 2018.

Wile weight management services have fared differently, with 18% more investment over the past five years.

But drugs and alcohol help has also suffered, with a drop in services from £18,529,000 to £15,426,000 - a dip of 17%

Elinor's mum struggled with alcohol abuse when she was growing up, she said they needed help to deal with it:

"I managed to pull through with my education and I had a lot of anxiety about friendships and I was very paranoid. I never gave my feelings validation so I never thought that I had the right to feel this way because it wasn't me going through the problems, I was just around it.

" I was worrying about my brother. There was a case when I came home one night and there were police at the door because my mum had made my sister concerned, but obviously that was not her.

"I was in denial basically about the whole situation for a really long time and I was, sort of, as it came towards college, I suffered a lot with anxiety and had really bad anxiety attacks."