SEXUAL health clinics aimed at young people in Derwentside have been opened.

The Derwentside Centre for Young People, based at the YMCA in Parliament Street, Consett, has opened two sexual health and chlamydia screening clinics.

Since the centre was opened by Derwentside Primary Care Trust in July 2002, it has been visited by more than 300 people.

The sexual health advice clinics will be open every Monday from 3pm to 4.30pm and every Wednesday from noon to 1.30pm.

The chlamydia screening clinic will be open from 1pm to 4pm every Tuesday, while the centre's well-established family planning service, staffed by a doctor and a nurse, will continue to run onFriday from 4pm to 5.30pm.

Lesley Irving-Munroe, sexual health outreach worker for the trust, said: "Young people experience all different kinds of health issues, but often don't feel confident enough to access mainstream services, so we have tried to develop new ways of meeting young people's health needs.

"The two new clinics will mean that young people are able to get their health needs met instead of ignoring them and hoping they will go away, or dealing with them alone."

The rate of chlamydia infection in County Durham has doubled over the past five years, making it the most common sexual infection among young people.

The centre offers confidential advice and testing.

Ms Irving-Munroe said: "It is important that young people find out as soon as possible if they have chlamydia, as it may have serious long-term consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility in men and women."