National HIV Testing Week starts on Monday 1 February 2021

National HIV Testing Week is a campaign to promote regular testing among the most-affected population groups in England. Regular testing helps to reduce the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV and those diagnosed late. 

This year, the campaign returns with the successful creative ‘Give HIV the finger: a finger-prick test is all it takes’. The campaign will encourage people to test for HIV at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

While new HIV diagnoses have continued to fall, the latest data from Public Health England (PHE) reports 42% of all diagnoses were late. PHE warns that people diagnosed late face an eight-fold increased risk of mortality.

Testing for HIV is free, fast, confidential and simple – you can now even do it at home.

The sooner you find out you have HIV, the better it is for your health. If you have HIV for a long time without knowing, it can damage your health and shorten your life. It’s a good idea to test at least once a year (or more if you have unprotected sex with more than one partner).

Testing is good for all of us

Most people get HIV from someone who doesn’t know they have it – the only way to be sure is to get tested.

We are still here for you

Our HIV services are still open and available for anyone who needs us. You can call us to book a telephone or video consultation. Please do not come to a clinic unless:

• We ask you to through telephone
• You are collecting medicine
• You need emergency contraception
• You need HIV post exposure prophylaxis (PEP)

For your health and safety, please wear a mask when attending a clinic (unless you are exempt). We will also take your temperature prior to entry.

To get started, please visit https://www.sexualhealth.cnwl.nhs.uk/ and follow the on-screen instructions to direct yourself to the information you need.

Home testing

Residents of most London boroughs can access the London Sexual Health Programme online testing service, click here to order your testing kit.

Surrey residents can order

• A sexual health home screening kit for over 18s

Visit this page to get started.

You can also order free HIV postal test from Free Testing HIV.

For more information about National HIV Testing week, please visit this website. You can also get involved in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #HIVTestWeek.

CLASH / SHOC Outreach and clinics for community members 

CLASH at a session called the Outside Project

Our Health Promotion Outreach Team (CLASH and SHOC) will also be running their weekly clinics and have planned online and outreach events during the week to discuss HIV testing and prevention with the local community. CLASH and SHOC provide a free and confidential walk in clinic for people working in the sex industry to obtain free testing

You can find the clinics here.

Sessions below