HSE STI home-testing service temporarily halted following thousands of orders

Clinics for sexually-transmitted illnesses have been curtailed with some services merged or unable to open. Picture: HSE/ SH24.ie

A home testing kit for sexually-transmitted infections programme launched by the HSE on Tuesday has already received thousands of orders and is temporarily halted.

This pilot programme was launched only in Cork, Kerry and Dublin. They started taking orders online at 5pm but by lunchtime on Wednesday were over-subscribed.

The easy-to-use testing kits check for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis and HIV.

Clinics for sexually-transmitted illnesses have been curtailed with some services merged or unable to open.

A HSE spokeswoman said: “In the first few hours, we received unprecedented interest in the service, with thousands of orders.

“In order to protect the capacity of the local clinical teams in Ireland, who provide confirmatory testing and treatment, we will be unable to accept any further orders at this time. In February, we will reopen for more orders.”

 She said the delivery of already-ordered kits will be staggered over the next few weeks to reduce pressures on clinics.

To be mindful, and avoid putting further strain on the clinical services during this Covid-19 pandemic, we will be staggering the delivery of these kits over the next few weeks.

— SH:24 (@sh24_nhs) January 6, 2021

Executive director HIV Ireland Stephen O’ Hare is on the steering group for the pilot programme.

He said: “The level of demand for the tests does indicate a pent-up demand. 

"These services have been under-resourced since the pandemic started. Walk-in clinics are closed in many places, and there are waiting lists for the hospital services.” It is too early for a formal estimate of annual STIs numbers, but reported tests are compiled weekly by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

Mr O’ Hare said these would seem to indicate STIs are going down, but this is not the full picture.

“The issue is there is a lot less testing, we see that now with this demand for tests in less than 24 hours. 

"We would worry HIV and other STIs are growing and continuing unchecked now. This is something we need to work on,” he said.

The service is run for the HSE by SH:24 who also partner with the NHS.

The HSE spokeswoman said Irish orders of almost 5,000 kits overnight is "unprecedented."

She said: " Service provider SH:24 have stated in similar-sized areas in other jurisdictions they have seen around 700 orders in the first month."

• Free Test kits can be ordered at sh24.ie