How long it takes

After significant problems with appointment waiting times in the early part of the decade, in 2005 the Department of Health established a target for all sexual health clinics in England to give appointments within 48 hours. There have been considerable improvements in the service, and by late 2007 more than nine out of ten people were offered an appointment within 48 hours (and eight out of ten people were actually seen by the clinic within that time).¹

In order to achieve this target the Department of Health urges providers to consider offering services in the evenings, early mornings and weekends, offering a choice of appointment and walk-in slots, running outreach clinics, and making full use of a range of sexual health services within a community.

Depending on the way a clinic is organised and possible tests and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections, a patient may need to allow up to three hours for a visit to a sexual health clinic. It may be necessary to see a doctor, a health adviser and a nurse, and to expect some waiting time in between each one. However, some visits will be considerably shorter.

Some clinics may use rapid tests for some patients. They do have some disadvantages, but can be used to give an initial result within half an hour. However, if confirmatory tests are required, these can take several days to be carried out.

If a fourth-generation test is used, the main delay in getting results is due to the fact that samples are usually analysed in batches, and it may take some labs several days to accumulate enough samples to analyse. The actual process of conducting the test usually takes a few hours.

BHIVA guidelines recommend that for routine opt-out tests, results are returned to patients within 72 hours.² In practice, not all clinics meet this standard. Results within a day or two are frequently offered by busier clinics and for urgent cases at smaller clinics, but other patients may be asked to wait one or two weeks for results.