by Patrick Cash
Leigh Chislett is the clinic manager who leads a hardworking, friendly staff, many of them LGBT themselves.Joe Phillips is his second-in-command. “At 56 Dean Street we’re proud to provide sexual health and HIV care to the gay community,” says Joe. “All our staff, including those that don’t identify as being part of the community, try to go the extra mile to care for and support the people we see.”
These extra miles include outreach services, like instant HIV testing in the basement of G-A-Y Bar, or offering hepatitis vaccinations at Ku Bar. And specialist weekly clinics like CODE and CliniQ: the former devoted to helping men struggling with chemsex in the capital; the latter being the only sexual health service specifically for transgender people in the UK.
There are exciting future developments at Dean Street, including the launch of a new PrEP clinic to make the HIV prevention drug available to the gay community at a close to cost price.
Patrick Cash
Patrick Cash
I write for the theatre, with productions including a queer adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Arcola Theatre; then The Clinic, Queers, The Chemsex Monologues, all at the King’s Head Theatre, and Superficial at The Glory, all coming under my work with Dragonflies Theatre. The Chemsex Monologues will be returning to the King’s Head Theatre in August, 15-20th.
I host two open-mic nights in London: the poetry and performance night Spoken Word London, and the gay men’s wellbeing forum Let’s Talk About Gay Sex & Drugs, in association with Soho sexual health clinic 56 Dean Street. I’ve been lucky enough to have performed as a poet at nights across London and Paris, including the ICA, Shakespeare & Company and Latitude Festival.
Journalistically, I am a contributing editor to Attitude, and write for Vice. In 2015 I was named ‘One to Watch’ on the Independent on Sunday’s Rainbow List as a playwright. and this year I was unexpectedly placed 88 on the Pride Power List published in the Observer. If you’d like more information on me or my writing, feel free to contact me on the tab above.
www.patrickcash.co.uk
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