Abstract
Sirs: The recent Richardson et al. 1 paper on the psychosocial factors associated with declining the offer of chlamydia testing refers to the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) as being a UK programme; however, the NCSP is specific to England. Health is a devolved matter in the UK: the devolved government for Scotland is responsible for health policy. Currently, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), guideline 109 2 informs screening practice across Scotland.
The Richardson et al. paper is not the first to make this error: papers have referred to the UK in the title only for the actual study population to be drawn from England. 3–5 Moreover, sexual health policy, which is specific to England, 6 has been cited as UK policy. 5 Given the international readership of the Journal, it is important that the devolved nature of health in the UK is clearly understood so that research findings are considered within the appropriate context. For example, despite the contrasting English and Scottish approaches to chlamydia screening, the involvement of young men remains limited. Nevertheless, the backdrop of screening opportunities for young men may differ between the two countries; thus, it is imperative that researchers offer a lucid description of the context, as some have attempted to do. 7