A group of 6 learners from RNIB College Loughborough have participated in and evaluated 4 Sexual health services in Loughborough as part of the Leicestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership and Youth Service 'Mystery Shopper' project.

This project involves young people across the county who are getting involved to assess the service they receive at local provisions, highlighting excellent service and offering advice for areas of improvement. The project focusses on a selection of criteria which are evaluated during a 'Mystery Shop'. This includes aspects of accessibility, the environment, publicity, staff training skills and attitude, joint work with other services and more. Learners from the College did their Mystery shop in pairs and marked the services against these criteria.

As the learners from RNIB College all have a disability they were able to give a real insight into the local sexual health services available for young disabled people including accessibility of the building and the information provided. One learner taking part says, 'it was a great experience because most people we met really wanted to help and make improvements to their service.'

When asked what they wanted to achieve by taking part in the project the learners said that they wanted to have a voice, make a difference, feel more confident and assertive about accessing these services, to raise peer awareness, contribute to improving services and to acknowledge good services. The project also includes the opportunity to complete an ASDAN award which can help to demonstrate useful skills on their CV.

A student feedback back event took place at the College on Monday 25 June, as an opportunity for learners to share their experience and to thank those services involved in the project.

Project organiser, Santosh Verma from the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, said, 'the learners were a real inspiration. At the beginning they were quite nervous about making the phone calls and going to the appointments but they all did really well and soon built their confidence. This has been an interesting project and both the learners and the services we visited were keen to get involved and make a difference.'