Using our tests

Yes, you can. But your test will be more accurate if you do it on a lighter day of your period or if you wait until you've stopped bleeding.

Use the return packaging included in your kit to securely send your samples to our lab. This has our address label already attached and the postage has been paid.

This is UN3373 packaging. It’s approved for transporting medical samples and will keep your samples safe.

You might like to make a note of the # number on the address label. This can be used to track your samples with Royal Mail.

Then you can just put the sealed package in any local postbox. There is no need to visit the post office. 

If you did not get any return packaging in your kit, let us know by replying to one of our text messages, or emailing us at sh24.info@nhs.net. Include the mobile number you used to make your order, your date of birth and your postcode, so we can find your order and organise new packaging to be sent to you. 

Our lab cannot accept samples received in any other packaging. Or samples that we have not sent you. This is because different packaging may allow your samples to become contaminated on their journey.

Some parts of the test kit will expire, but usually you can keep the kit for a few months and use it when you’re ready.

You can find expiry dates written on the sides of the individual pieces of your test kit, for example, on the side of the sample tube.

If you’ve had your kit for over 6 months, we recommend ordering a new one in case our testing or posting has changed.

Our simple home STI test kits are highly accurate and reliable when you:

• follow the instructions carefully

• wait for the recommended window period before you test

• do more tests in a clinic after a reactive result for HIV

Your samples are sent to our partner laboratory to be processed by specialist technicians. We use the same tests that many NHS and HSE clinics use.

The window period is the time it takes for an infection to show up in tests. This period starts from the time of your sexual health risk - when you think you may have been exposed to infection.

At our labs, we use the nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), run on the Hologic Panther platform to test for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.
Our HIV test is a fourth-generation assay test. This tests for HIV I and II antibodies and p24 antigen (a protein often present in the blood soon after infection). This is the most up-to-date test as recommended by BHIVA (British HIV Association)

Our syphilis test is an ECLIA (ElectroChemiLuminescence ImmunoAssay). This test looks for antibodies known as immunoglobulins IgG and IgM. Our lab screens for both HIV and syphilis using the Roche Cobas E Modular platform.