Routine Testing

NHS Sexual Health Services 

Your nearest NHS sexual health clinic will be able to provide a full sexual health testing service and can get you started on treatment if an infection is diagnosed.  

Sexual health clinics can also support you with other sexual health services like access to PrEP and PEP.  

Services will vary depending on where you live, so visit your local NHS area’s sexual health pages for more information. 

• Some areas will provide specific testing services for gay, bisexual and all men who have sex with men.  
• Testing is commonly offered in person at a local clinic, or through home testing kits that you can complete and return. 
• You will need to make an appointment for most services, but some drop-in clinics are available in certain areas. 

At your local GP 

Many GP surgeries will offer sexual health testing, though this is not always available.  The easiest way to find out if you can get tested at your GP is to call the reception and ask.  

If they are not able to help, they should be able to provide information about local testing with a specialist sexual health service. 

Testing with Waverley Care 

At Waverley Care, we offer free, community-based HIV and syphilis testing for gay, bisexual and all men who have sex with men.  

• This service is available in the Lothians, Highland, and Argyll & Bute  – Click here to book a test. 

If you are struggling to find a testing option that works for you, we may be able to help, so get in touch. 

In different parts of the country, different testing service will follow their own procedures. However, most appointments will typically include: 

• Pre-test checks – during this stage, the person doing the tests will explain what tests are being offered. They will ask you a few questions about your sexual health and offer information about ways you can improve it. 
• Testing – During a full sexual health screen, you will usually provide different samples for testing. This can include throat and anal swabs, urine samples and blood samples. 
• Results – If you’re getting a full sexual health screen, your samples will be sent to a lab for testing. Results will usually be available 7-10 days later, often via an automated phone line. In some cases, point-of-care tests will be offered which can give instant results. 

At any point during your appointment, you should be able to raise any questions or concerns you have about the test or your sexual health more generally.

How often you get a sexual health test will depend on your own circumstances, but here are some general rules about when and how often to get tested: 

Every 3 months 

• If you’re sexually active and have multiple partners 
• If your partner(s) have multiple partners 

Every 6-12 months or as required  

• At the start of a new relationship 
• After sex with a new partner 
• If you notice symptoms such as discharge or rashes 
• If a partner tells you that they have an STI 

Different STIs take different lengths of time before they’ll show up on a test. We call this the testing window. You need to wait until the testing window has passed before a test can give reliable results. The testing windows for the most common STIs are: 

• Chlamydia: 10 days after exposure 
• Gonorrhoea: 10 days after exposure 
• Syphilis: 6 weeks after exposure and retest after 3 months 
• Hepatitis B: 4-6 weeks after exposure 
• Hepatitis C: 3 weeks after exposure 
• HIV Antibody Test (Rapid Test): 3 months after exposure 
• HIV Blood Test: 4 weeks after exposure 
• Herpes: 6-12 weeks after exposure 
• HPV (Human Papillomavirus): – 4 months after exposure. It is recommended that if you have a cervix, to get a cervical screen every 5 years.  

 Regular testing ensures that any infections are diagnosed and treated as early as possible and reduces the chances that infections will be passed on to other people. 

We want people to feel confident and comfortable accessing sexual health testing, but we also know that it is something that makes people nervous, particularly when it comes to their confidentiality. 

We want to reassure you that, like other areas of healthcare, people providing sexual health testing take the confidentiality of people using their services very seriously. No service will ever share the results of a sexual health screen with anyone else, unless they have your consent to do so. 

If you’re testing at a sexual health clinic, your results are recorded on a separate system to your general medical record. This means your results will not be shared with your GP without your consent. 

If you’re testing at a sexual health clinic, or with Waverley Care, you can test under a false name to provide extra reassurance about your confidentiality.