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All patients attending the clinic will be offered tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

For FEMALE patients the tests may be swabs taken by the nurse or doctor, or swabs women patients take themselves while in the clinic, or in some circumstances, a urine test may be available.

For MALE patients the tests may be swabs taken by the nurse or doctor, or a urine test.

Patients will be contacted if treatment is required.

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Page contents
>> The Sexual Health team
| >> What is a Walk In Clinic?
| >> Attending with children
| >> What can I be tested for?
| >> Other services
| >> What about results?
| >> What will happen on my first visit?
| >> Health Advisers Clinics
| >> Information for Sex Workers
| >> Specialist Sexual Health Clinics
| >> Introducing the Nursing Team
| >> Nursing Team’s Philosophy of Care to Patients
| >> Useful links

The Sexual Health team
At both clinics the staff are made up of consultants, doctors, nurses, health advisers, support workers, receptionists plus secretaries and administrators

What is a Walk In Clinic?
Walk In Clinics mean you do not need to be referred to us by a doctor and neither do you need to ring us and make an appointment, you just need to come along. The amount of people who will be seen each clinic will depend on how many staff are available that day. People will be seen in the order they arrive or according to how serious their problem is. It is best to arrive before the opening time in order to ensure you will be seen.

The clinics are also referred to as ‘Walk In and Wait’ because depending on how many people have arrived, you may be waiting for several hours to be seen. Also, once you have seen the doctor, you may be asked to wait for the initial results. So please be prepared that you may be here for most of the morning or afternoon.

Attending with children
As it is likely that you will be at the clinic for several hours it would be best not to bring children with you. If you have no alternative but to bring children, please supervise them at all times as the clinic is very busy and is full of equipment that is dangerous to children. The clinic cannot be held responsible for any injury that might happen to unsupervised children. Due to safety procedures, children cannot be brought into clinical rooms while you are being examined or treated.

What can I be tested for?
A full sexual health screen includes tests for gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis, bacterial vaginosis (women only) candida, trichomonas and HIV. We can also test for Hepatitis A B or C (if appropriate) and we treat herpes and genital warts.

Other services
We also provide pre and post HIV test counselling; advice on all sexually transmitted infections; advice on safer sex and sexual health; free condoms and femidoms; counselling regarding sexual health, including for those who have been raped or sexually assaulted; assessment for sexual dysfunction and referral

What about results?
The Sexual Health Clinic operates a ‘no news is good news’ system, which means we will contact you if you need to return for treatment. Or you may make arrangements to come back to the clinic for your results.

What will happen on my first visit?
On your first visit to the walk in clinic you will be asked to fill in a form about why you have come to see us. This form will help the clinical staff to decide if anyone needs to be seen urgently.

You will also be asked to give us your details, such as name, address, date of birth. These details are confidential (Please see ‘Confidentiality’ section). With these details, the administrative staff will make up a file, which will be allocated a number. You will be asked to wait in the waiting area and your name will be called when it is your turn to be seen. According to your needs, you will be seen by a doctor, a nurse or a health adviser. The doctor, nurse or health adviser will speak to you first about your symptoms or concerns before any examination takes place. Next, you will have a genital examination and then blood tests. We routinely offer patients a chaperone (a member of nursing staff to observe the person carrying out the examination). You may be asked to wait for your initial results or for treatment. You may also be asked to see the Health Adviser.

Health Advisers Clinics
You may be asked to see the Health Adviser before blood tests are taken or, if you have been diagnosed with an infection, you may need to see the Health Adviser for advice. If you have any concerns about sexual health, you may want to ask to see the Health Adviser while you are here.

The Health Advisers also see people who are under the age of 18 before they are seen by the doctor.

Health Advisers offer Pre and Post HIV test discussion or counselling and you can attend just for blood tests if you wish. They also offer counselling for other matters concerning sexual health such as negotiating safer sex, survivors of childhood sexual abuse, for those who have been raped / sexually assaulted (both male and female), sexuality issues, psychosexual problems, for those living with or affected by HIV and for those having difficulty with any STI diagnosis

If you are unsure about having STI screening or feel you have an issue regarding sexual health that you would like to talk over before seeing a doctor please call reception on 01708 503838 for an appointment with one of the health advisers.

You can also make an appointment with a Health Adviser for: HIV tests, collecting condoms or femidoms, having a pregnancy test or for a referral for a pregnancy termination.

Information for Sex Workers
We provide STI screening, vaccination for Hepatitis A and B and PEP (for further details about PEP please see HIV section) for sex workers, male and female. We also provide pregnancy testing, free condoms and femidoms and lubricant. We are on the Ugly Mug mailing list and have links with the Poppy Project. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a sex workers only clinic at the moment.

Specialist Sexual Health Clinics
We are now running a dedicated clinic for men who have sex with men. For details, please see the section titled: Sexual Health care and services for men who have sex with men.

We are also in the process of setting up a clinic for Sex Workers, we will soon be annoucing when this will be starting.

Introducing the Nursing Team
The nursing team includes trained nurses and healthcare assistants with a mix of male and female staff. The nursing team is committed to promoting as much nurse-managed care of patients as possible. The benefits are that the access to this service is improved as the number of patients we see can be increased, whilst reducing the time patients spend waiting in our clinics. Nurse-led care is becoming increasingly commonplace nationally and has been generally well received by patients and the public.

We have a loyal, experienced team in which training and development are among our key priorities in order to provide safe, professional care whilst meeting the high public demand from our surrounding communities to access the service.

If a patient is pregnant, has abdominal pain or other more complex symptoms, a consultation with a doctor must be arranged.

A patient’s right to have a chaperone present applies if being seen by a nurse, in the same way it does to being seen by a doctor.

In addition to seeing a nurse, it may be necessary for a patient to be referred to a doctor or health adviser within the clinic, based on the particular needs identified either by the patient or the nurse; the need to do so will always be discussed with patients beforehand.

The nursing team’s philosophy of care to patients sets out the team’s values and goals in our aim to meet the needs of patients.

Nursing Team’s Philosophy of Care to Patients
We aim to provide confidential nursing care as part of a multidisciplinary team (which includes reception staff, doctors, health advisers and others), to all members of the community we serve.

The nursing team aims to do this by approaching patients’ needs in a friendly, professional and discreet manner, avoiding judgment about the lifestyles of our patients whose individuality will be both respected and reflected in the care provided to them.

Our service to patients, healthy or sick, will aim to offer high quality nursing care with education and support to promote self-care and enable each individual to make informed choices in a safe, pleasant environment and in an atmosphere of acceptance and trust.

Useful links

British Association for Sexual Health and HIV

British Association of Sexual and Relationship Therapy

Condoms

Durex

Family Planning
Family Planning Helpline – Sexual Health Direct 0845 310 1334

National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP)

NHS Direct 0845 46 47

The POPPY Project (sex workers)

Pregnancy terminations - Marie Stopes

Sexual Dysfunction Association

Sexual Health Line 0800 567 123

Society of Sexual Health Advisers

STIs

STIs (young people)