GUM (sexual health) clinic

​About the Sexual Health clinic

We are a specialist outpatient clinic offering a free and confidential service for anyone with a sexual health concern.

We offer a range of services, including: 

• testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) 
• advice and information about sexual health 
• free condoms 
• emergency contraception 
• pregnancy testing 
  
• HIV testing
• PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). You take this medication before sex to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. PrEP protects people who are HIV negative, but are at high risk of contracting the virus. Islanders eligible for this treatment include:

• men who have sex with men 
• transgender women who have sex with men 
  
• HIV negative partners of HIV positive individuals
• those at high risk of getting HIV
  

• PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) medication that can help prevent people from developing HIV if they've been exposed to it 
• Hepatitis B vaccination, excludes travel vaccination
• HPV, for men who have sex with men aged 45 and under  
• clinical care for people who have been sexually assaulted 
• specialist cervical screening clinics for HIV positive individuals, transgender men and non-binary individuals

Making an appointment

We offer appointments daily from Monday to Friday. We have daytime and evening appointments. Clinic times may vary. 

We recommend you b​ook in advance for appointments during evenings or student holidays due to high demand.

Call or email to make an appointment. If no one is available to take your call, leave a message. We will call you back within 1 working day. All communications are confidential and managed by specialist staff within the Sexual Health team.

To ensure we give you the most suitable appointment with the most appropriate clinician. a member of our team will ask you confidential questions as part of the booking process.

Inform our team if you have been in contact with an infection, or if you have received a positive test result from a different clinic or GP when making an appointment. 

All information is handled sensitively. If you feel more comfortable discussing your reason for attendance with a nurse inform the member of staff when booking your appointment.

Symptoms or risk of exposure to infection

It's important that you tell us this information before we book your appointment.

If you experience symptoms outside of clinic opening hours, contact your:

If you are at risk of HIV exposure, Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) can be initiated at the Emergency Department at any time. Any follow-up care will be provided by our GUM team.

Routine testing​

Self-testing clinics for people with no symptoms

You can test for some STIs on your own as long as you don’t have symptoms. This is known as routine testing.

When you call or email us to book an appointment at the Sexual Health Clinic we’ll check if you have symptoms or need medical advice. If not, we’ll offer you an appointment at our Self-Testing Clinic.​

The Self-testing clinic is managed by Health Care Assistants, who are trained to take tests but not to give medical advice. You’ll be asked to complete a health questionnaire at the clinic, so if you need help with the paperwork or prefer to see a Nurse or Doctor, let the team know when booking your appointment.

When you arrive at the self-testing clinic, you’ll fill out the questionnaire in the waiting area. Some questions might seem personal, but they help us choose the right tests for you. The Healthcare assistant will review your answers, explain how to do the self-tests, and offer you a blood test. We keep all of your personal information confidential. 

If your questionnaire highlights symptoms or concerns you can make a further appointment for you to see a senior clinician, then let us know about your symptoms or concerns when booking the appointment.  

Follow up appointments​

Follow up appointments are offered for;

Your test results

We prioritise​ positive test results and action these first.

All test results are usually available approximately 2 weeks after your appointment. Certain tests may take longer as they may need to be repeated or sent off Island to a specialist laboratory. 

We let you know your results by your ​chosen communication method.

Confidentiality

Our service is completely confidential and free of charge.

You may feel some of the questions we ask during your appointment are quite personal, this is to make sure we offer the right tests for you.

We don't share your sexual health notes outside of our department, and your information is not accessible through the Hospital or GP records system. 

Your information, including test results, is kept under a unique, anonymous number, the only exception is if you or someone else is at serious risk of harm. We always aim to discuss these concerns with you before sharing information about you with anyone else.