SEXUAL infections have shot up across Worcestershire, sparking concern for the welfare of 16 to 25-year-olds.

But Sexual Health Service county manager Sheena Stewart said the community should not worry - even with up to £20,000 of cutbacks in the pipeline.

She revealed that 6,500 patients had come forward with sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhoea or chlamydia in the past year - an increase of around 13 per cent.

Across Britain, cases of those diseases have gone up by 70 per cent since 1997, and HIV and AIDS are expected to rise by 10 per cent a year.

The most dramatic increase has been in cases of syphilis - 374 per cent - according to a report by Professor Michael Adler, of the Royal Free and University College Medical School.

But Mrs Stewart said that, although there had been a definite increase, the figures also showed the success of a national awareness campaign launch-ed in November, which might have prompted the "vulnerable" 16 to 25 age group to come forward.

She also pledged plans for a more efficient "21st Century" service would overshadow the proposed cutbacks, which included the closure of four satellite clinics in Malvern, Droitwich, Bromsgrove and Redditch, and curtailing of the supply of free condoms.

"We cannot invest more money into the service but we can look at it systematically and see where it will hurt the least," she said. "We plan to close the clinic in Malvern because there are a lot of GPs offering their own service there. In Droitwich, there wasn't much demand for the Thursday evening session.

"With regard to condoms, we give out thousands every year but we've never really been able to monitor how effective it is.

"But we'd only be stopping the supply to GP surgeries. They will still be available in sexual health clinics.

"If doctors want to stock them, its up to them."

She said the cutbacks by South Worcestershire's Primary Care Trust were unfortunate but meant there was a chance to review the whole service.

Plans under discussion include creating more programmes for young people, improving the role of specialist clinics and shifting resources for more routine screening of infections like chlamydia, which can be symptomless in women.

"We are looking at what we are doing and trying to respond," she said. "We would like to see an altogether more dynamic 21st Century service."

MP Mike Foster agreed a more education-based service was needed.

But he said there needed to be more investment in the area of sexual health.

"Dealing with sexually transmitted infections has been a taboo for too long," he said.

"It's a modern phenomenon that we are faced with and the crazy thing is that they are very simple to prevent."