The sex health MOT for older daters to help those at high risk of STIs

Home Top

Celine Dion brings American Music Awards to tears by singing haunting Edith Piaf love song 'Hymne a L'Amour' in tribute to Paris
Three suspects arrested over rape and murder of pregnant pastor's wife who was killed in her home as she tried to protect her infant son
Two killed as US Army Apache helicopter crashes on to mountain road in South Korea
Sixteen hurt as two gunmen open fire on crowd in New Orleans park during music video shoot
After moving Black Friday to Thursday, now Walmart shifts Cyber Monday to SUNDAY
Teen found out her boyfriend, 16, was dead by watching video of him dying on Facebook after he was gunned down in fight between 50 people outside his high school
Bill Clinton rape accuser blasts Hillary for campaigning on platform of women's issues and claims she knew about alleged hotel room assault and tried to cover it up
Columbus did NOT bring syphilis to Europe: Disease is found in the remains of a child who died 170 years before the voyage to America
Officers who were called to help a sick child at a hotel room in New Jersey discover 1,000 bags of heroin
EXCLUSIVE: Hasidic woman kills herself - months after her tech executive sister jumped to her death from Manhattan rooftop bar following split from strict faith
Obama to feature on new Coldplay album after president gives permission for band to use recording of him singing 'Amazing Grace' at Charleston shooting funeral
The end of the Kirchner era: Technocrat mayor of Buenos Aires wins presidential election to end 12 years of left wing leadership in Argentina
George H. W. Bush gets a double kiss from two granddaughters while celebrating with his famous brood at a family wedding
Phuc Dat Bich sees the funny side: Man whose Vietnamese name Facebook did not believe was real thanks supporters after his plight set the internet alight
British Freemasons fixed inquiry into Titanic to protect Establishment, claims secret archive that lists two million members - including Winston Churchill
CDC worker caught up in Mali hotel attack reveals terror as gunman knocked on her door as she hid in her room
Beauty amid terror: Musician performs haunting rendition of Hallelujah on the deserted streets of Brussels
Gunmen hunted for Air France crew: Mali hotel terrorists shot at 'anything that moved' in hunt for foreigners - and one jihadist even stopped to cook a meal in the kitchen before continuing massacre
Laughing in the face of terror: Belgians respond to police request not to tweet details of their hunt for the Paris killers by posting hilarious pictures of their cats
'All the terrorists are basically migrants': Controversial Hungarian prime minister calls for EU border clampdown in wake of Paris attacks
Britain takes the fight to ISIS by launching 17 deadly bombing raids since the Paris attacks - including seven in past three days
Now that's a war room! Inside Russia's fortified triple-decker operations base sitting on a maze of secret tunnels where Putin masterminds strikes on ISIS
'It was a complete failure': France admits intelligence disaster as it is revealed Turkey warned of Paris attack jihadis a YEAR ago
Germany to convert Berlin's abandoned Stasi HQ into a shelter to house 500 migrants amid refugee crisis

Patients can request the kit online and it is posted in a plain envelope
SH:24 kits will test for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV
Patients receive the results via text message within seven days
Currently only available to NHS patients in Lambeth and Southwark

By Katherine Keogh For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 17:06 EST, 21 November 2015 | Updated: 23:31 EST, 22 November 2015

View
comments

The first free postal sexual-health ‘MOT’ aimed at the rising number of older people with sexually transmitted infections has been launched.

Health chiefs hope the new initiative will help stem the growing numbers of middle-aged and older people at high risk of STIs by allowing them to take a test in their own home, without having to visit a GP or face a lengthy, and sometimes embarrassing, wait at a sexual-health clinic.

A similar service, which provides test kits by post and gives results via text or email, is already being used by the NHS for teenagers and young adults.

The first free postal sexual-health ‘MOT’ aimed at the rising number of older people with sexually transmitted infections has been launched. The kits will arrive in a plain envelope (stock image)

Patients make an online request for the kit, which tests for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV. It is posted out in a plain envelope. They take the test, return the kit and receive their results by text message within seven days.

The new service, called SH:24, is only available now to NHS patients in Lambeth and Southwark in London, which have some of the highest STI rates in the country. But there are plans to roll out the service across the country over the next year.

Nationwide figures from Public Health England reveal that 1,139 over-65s were diagnosed with a new STI in England last year, up from 854 in 2012.

And 27,540 people aged 45 to 64 were diagnosed in 2014, up from 25,764 in 2012.

Gillian Holdsworth, a consultant in public health medicine and programme director for SH:24, said: ‘The profile of people with sexually transmitted infections has changed in recent years. Older people may think they no longer need to use protection but they are still at risk.

‘We also know many people who want or need a test don’t get tested for a number of reasons – inconvenience, embarrassment about going to a clinic, or not realising they’re at risk.

‘SH:24 is available 24 hours a day, with confidentiality and results by text within a week guaranteed.’

In women, gonorrhoea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease. If they are pregnant it can cause miscarriage and premature labour.

Chlamydia can lead to infertility if left untreated while syphilis, if left untreated, can cause stroke, paralysis, blindness and even death.

At-home tests are available privately but can cost upwards of £100.

The SH:24 service was set up by a team of public health and sexual-health professionals and academics and has distributed more than 5,500 kits since trials began last November.

Patients fill out an online form and are sent a kit consisting of a blood, urine or swab test. The test is then processed in a laboratory.

Most people will receive their results by text along with details of where to get further treatment if needed. Those who test positive for HIV will receive a call from a clinician.

The move has been welcomed by health charity the FPA, formerly the Family Planning Association, which has campaigned for greater awareness of STIs among older people.

Chief executive Natika Halil says: ‘Sexual-health services are in the main aimed at under-25s, but it’s not just young people who are having sex. Ultimately this is a health issue and there is a danger that the needs of older people are being ignored.

‘Divorce and dating in later life means people are having sex with new partners, yet older people may still associate contraception with pregnancy and don’t see why they need to be careful because that risk is no longer there.’