From yesterdays Bristol Post. Just an extract here. Hope you find it of use. The scheme will be evaluated by researchers, so it suggests it may not be permanent. No timeline was given.
Vending machines offering test kits for sexually transmitted diseases including syphilis and HIV are to be installed in shopping centres and community buildings. The new machines offering the sexual health testing kits have been launched in four venues across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire by Unity Sexual Health, the sexual health service led by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
The vending machines aim to provide an easy, free, fast and confidential way to test for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Machines will be put at Hamilton House and at Watershed in Bristol, The Sovereign in Weston-super-Mare and Willowbrook Shopping Centre at Bradley Stoke.
The machines are being placed in publicly accessible spaces and will mean more people can get easily tested. Two types of test kits are available from the vending machines.
One is for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and syphilis. The other is an HIV mouth swab testing kit made available for free by Unity Sexual Health Clinic for the first time.
A person using the first test kit will be able to send their sample to a lab for free and get their results by text message in one to three weeks. Someone using the HIV testing kit will have to swab the inside of their cheek with a mouth swab to get a result in just 20 minutes.
Both tests can be done at home. To get a test from a vending machine, a person will have to answer six quick questions and enter the code sent to their mobile phone into the vending machine.
