Online sexual health services double number of people getting STI tests, study finds

Offering sexual health testing online results in twice as many people getting checked and subsequently diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI), researchers have found.

This comes after The Independent reported sexual health clinics are at a “tipping point” in the wake of swinging cuts to public health with demand for services up 25 per cent.

To combat this many local authorities are rolling out “e-STI testing” to manage extra demand.

There have been concerns that this emphasis on cheaper online support and home testing could negatively impact care, but the study published in PLOS Medicine today found “no difference” in treatment time.

The clinical trial in south London, led by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King’s College London, directed more than 2,000 patients to the online service which offers home testing kits, testing service or a list of local sexual health clinics.

Fifty per cent of the e-STI testing group got themselves tested during the trial, compared to 26.6 per cent in the group who were directed to attend a physical clinic.

This could be down to online services being more discreet.

Caroline Free, one of the researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “Sexual health clinics play an important role in community health but some people may find them inconvenient or stigmatising, which can stop them attending.”

In the e-STI group 2.8 per cent of participants were diagnosed with an STI, compared to 1.4 per cent in the control group but the number of participants wasn’t big enough to say if this was significant.

Crucially this increased testing was seen across key groups, such as men who have sex with men and people from a black or minority ethnic background.

These groups got tested for a wider range of conditions through online testing as well and the paper says this increased uptake shows e-STI services have “potential to increase testing among those most in need”.

However, it also cautions that online services can’t be a replacement for physical sexual health clinics.

“Although the intervention group were given information to access an e-STI service, some of them chose to use face-to-face services instead of e-STI testing,” Dr Paula Baraitser from Kings College London said.

“Therefore it is important that both online and clinical based services are available to meet the differing needs of people.”

In England there were more than 400,000 new diagnoses of STIs, and 5,684 new cases of HIV, in 2015.

In 2016 there were more than 100,000 new STIs diagnosed in London residents and the city accounted for almost half of new HIV diagnoses in the UK in 2015.

High-profile celebrities, including Prince Harry, have been part of efforts to increase uptake of testing for HIV in at-risk groups.

Men under 25, men who have sex with men, and people from minority ethnic groups are disproportionately affected.