Is it easy to have an HIV test?

How to get tested for HIV

In the UK it's never been easier to get an HIV test and to get your result quickly. You have several options to choose from, including getting tested by a health professional or self-testing at home. HIV testing is either free or paid-for, depending on your chosen route.

Where to go

You can have your HIV test at:

• Some GP practices.

• Sexual health clinics - genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics specialise in this.

• HIV testing centres - run by charities like Terrence Higgins Trust.

• Some young people's clinics and contraception clinics.

• Local dependency services.

• Antenatal clinics - if you're pregnant.

• Private clinics.

• Your own home.

You can use the NHS website HIV testing service finder to locate your nearest clinic for free tests. You can also pay for your tests at private practices. For home testing kits, there are both free and paid-for options.

HIV testing at a practice, clinic, or centre

Once you've found a place to get tested, this is what you should expect:

HIV testing at home

Home testing kits are easy to carry out, and can be a more comfortable and convenient option, offering more privacy for people who wish to by-pass discussions with a professional.

There are two types of home HIV testing:

• Self-tests - you take the sample and get the results within a few minutes.

• Postal tests - you take the sample and post it to a laboratory who will then contact you usually within 2-10 working days.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find and order a free HIV test using an online test finder. There are also many HIV home tests you can pay for, online or in pharmacies like Boots and Superdrug.

No HIV test is 100% reliable, and no HIV test is able to detect the virus immediately after you have been infected. The time between HIV exposure and when it can be detected is called the window period.

But blood tests are the most accurate - and of these the fourth-generation tests are the best². Also called rapid antigen/antibody tests, these detect both HIV antibodies, produced by your immune system to fight HIV, and HIV antigens - proteins found in the virus.

• These tests have a 99.7% accuracy rating³.

• They also have a shorter window period then other tests, being able to detect HIV just 18 days after infection⁴. This is because HIV antigens can show up on tests earlier than antibodies.

• Accuracy ratings for other HIV testing may be slightly lower, but all clinically reliable STI tests are at least 90% accurate⁵.

Yes. It is a myth that STI testing at home is less reliable than tests carried out by a clinician. According to The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), experts are recommending that sexual health services encourage the use of self-testing kits - as this may encourage more people to test⁵.

If you pay for an HIV test, the cost will depend on where you get it from.

HIV testing needn't be expensive, but prices online can range from around £15 when purchased from charities like Terrence Higgins Trust, to £100s in some private clinics, which may test for HIV along with other STIs at the same time.

This depends on the type of blood test⁶:

• Antigen/antibody tests may detect HIV from 18 days after exposure - instant rapid tests may detect from 18 to 90 days after exposure, and lab tests from 18 to 45 days.

• Antibody tests may detect HIV from 23 to 90 days after exposure - most instant tests and self-tests are antibody tests.

• Nucleic acid tests (NATs) may detect HIV from 10 to 33 days after exposure.

Finding out you have HIV can be scary and sometimes life-changing, so it's important to look after your mental health during this time. HIV and AIDS treatment has come along way since the 1980s - understanding where we're at with HIV could also help, including the current situation for women with HIV, which often gets overlooked.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): PEP (Post-exposure prophylaxis).

2. NAM aidsmap: How accurate are fourth-generation combination tests for HIV diagnosis?

3. CDC: Laboratory testing for the diagnosis of HIV infection updated recommendations.

4. Clinical Infectious Diseases: Time until emergence of HIV test reactivity following infection with HIV-1: implications for interpreting test results and retesting after exposure.

5. National Institute for Health and Care Research: Self-testing kit for sexually transmitted infections increases diagnoses while reducing costs.

6. CDC: Understanding the HIV window period.