The rate of STIs is on the increase in the UK, according to experts

Dr Colm O'Mahony said access to services in the region was "poor".

People in the area have to travel miles for treatment and wait up to three weeks to be seen, he added.

Officials say they have opened a clinic in Builth Wells and the Welsh Assembly Government said access to treatment was being looked at in a review.

It tends to be those people aged between 16 and 22 who have just come back from an Ibiza-style holiday who suffer Dr Colm O'Mahony

Dr O'Mahony, a sexual diseases consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital, explained that access to services for STIs across the UK was the "worst ever in the history of sexual illnesses."

"People in mid Wales have to travel huge distances and too far for treatment, although there is a clinic in Aberystwyth," he added.

"But if anyone in Wales, or the rest of the UK, phoned for an appointment they would, on average, be expected to wait at least two to three weeks for treatment."

The number of STIs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose by 4% last year.

Last month, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said cases of Chlamydia - the most common sexually transmitted infection - jumped by 9%.

Dr O'Mahony, former chairman of the Association for Genito-Urinary Medicine, said the infections and diseases were "at epidemic levels " in the UK.

"It tends to be those people aged between 16 and 22 who have just come back from an Ibiza-style holiday who suffer," he said.

"And it's more dangerous having unprotected sex abroad than it is in the UK."

Dr O'Mahony will speak about STIs at a major rural GPs' conference in Powys at Gregynog, near Newtown, which runs from 29 September to 1 October.

"A sexual strategy has been introduced in Wales and the rest of the UK, but it's been backed up with very little money," he added.

Condoms are the only way to protect against both pregnancy and infection

"It's had little or no impact on clinics and the amount of people they see which is enormous.

"The waiting times are ridiculously high, although the service people receive once they're seen is excellent."

Powys Local Health Board said it had recently opened a clinic dealing with sexual health at Builth Wells. There is another in neighbouring Ceredigion in Aberystwyth.

The Welsh Assembly Government said the figures for STIs in Wales were of concern.

"Over the last three years we have provided �1.7m for local sexual health initiatives which include sexual health outreach work, young peoples clinics and community education projects," said an assembly spokeswoman.

"We are also making condoms more accessible to those most vulnerable to STIs with eight schemes being funded across Wales.

Condoms

"A review of HIV and sexual health services has been carried out to see how sexual health services can be more accessible and how waiting times for clinics can be reduced.

"Access to STI diagnosis and treatment services for both rural and urban populations is being considered within the review."

Marc Jones, spokesman for Club 18-30, said young people were aware of the dangers of unprotected sex, and free condoms were distributed o holidaymakers in resorts.

"We work in partnership with the department of health's sex lottery campaign and pre, during and post holiday we're warning people about the dangers of unprotected sex," he said.