This information is for people who have been notified by us about being a contact of a sexually transmitted infection.
A list of our frequently asked questions is below.
Who are we?
56 Dean Street is a sexual health clinic based in Soho, London, UK. We are an expert sexual health clinic who focus on the needs of the LGBTIQ+ community. We are continually looking at reinventing ourselves to help drive down rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Why have we contacted you?
We have contacted you because we have been given information that you may have had sexual contact with someone who has tested positive for an infection.
When a person tests positive for an infection, it is important that they notify any partners who may have come into contact of this infection so they can get tested and/or treated. This is known as Partner Notification.
Partner Notification is commonly carried out by the person who tests positive for the infection; however, there may be a reason they do not feel able to do so, therefore it is also commonly carried out by sexual health clinics as well.
This has happened for many years, and usually involves a person passing on a mobile phone number for clinicians to notify their partners and to get them tested.
How does Partner Notification work?
A clinician usually sees a person who has tested positive for an infection and asks them how many contacts they have had in a given timeframe. We then ask if they are happy to contact these people themselves, or if they would like us to do this for them.
We do this anonymously, and to preserve confidentiality we ask if they are happy for us to name the infection or the clinic we are from. If they would like us to notify partners, we ask them for a phone number and an approximate timeframe of the last sexual contact with this person.
It is common practice for clinics to pass Partner Notification between other clinics in different areas to preserve this confidentiality where, for instance, a clinic from a particular area may reveal the location of the contact.
We are aware there are limits to the anonymity of Partner Notification; for instance, if a partner has had only one sexual contact, it is likely they will know who is informing them. However, everyone has a public health duty to notify and prevent further harm from untreated infections.
Why is Partner Notification so important?
Untreated sexually transmitted infections can lead to serious health complications. It is important for all partners who may be at risk of an STI to seek prompt treatment to prevent reinfection and to avoid any complications.
All services which provide treatment for STIs have a public health duty to ask about Partner Notification.
In the case of HIV, there is also no cure, but there is excellent treatment in the form of anti-retroviral medications (ARVs). It is now well understood in medicine that prompt diagnosis and initiation of ARV treatment as soon as possible is the best way to effectively manage HIV infection, to keep people living with HIV healthy and to prevent transmission onto other partners. People living with HIV who have an undetectable viral load and who continue to take daily ARVs, have been shown to have zero risk of passing on HIV.
Why use social media?
In the digital age, people are more frequently using other methods to communicate and to arrange sex. This means that many people might not have mobile phone numbers for a contact of an infection. We also commonly work with LGBTIQ+ communities and sex workers, many of whom are more likely to use social media around their sex lives. It is still important to notify their contacts, but the traditional method of Partner Notification using a mobile phone number will not be appropriate in these instances.
56 Dean Street are running a trial in the use of social media to carry out Partner Notification, focusing on contacts of the infections HIV, syphilis and Hepatitis B & C.
We are respectful of the intimacy of social media in people’s lives and want the contact via social media to be as minimal and as unintrusive as possible. Our preference is to inform you of the contact, link you to these questions for more details and have you either contact us or your local clinic to access testing and/or treatment.
Who gave us this information?
For confidentiality, we can never share information about the person who gave us your contact details, and in a case where we have passed on information from another sexual health clinic or healthcare provider, it is entirely possible that we don’t have them.
What information do we have of yours?
Our data is subject to NHS information governance and GDPR, so it is minimal and only what is needed to notify you.
Partner Notification traditionally involves collecting a contact number, a rough date of sexual contact and consent to name the infection and clinic. We may also collect a name or initial but it is optional. The only difference we have is that instead of taking a mobile phone number, we take a social media ID instead.
No identifiable details are stored about yourself or the person passing on the details, and we often don’t even have anything such as a name to work with, unless we can see it on your profile.
As part of our project approval, we have also taken steps to maximise confidentiality on the apps – keeping private profiles and not keeping a friends list. We also want to minimise back and forth messaging on the apps and will leave a contact number for you to get in touch with us directly, or encourage you to instead get in touch with your local clinic if you are not in the area.
It is also entirely possible your local clinic may not know about this project, and so you can pass on this link or encourage them to get in touch for further details.
How can I contact the clinic?
As noted above, we intend to move discussion off the apps as quickly as possible, so best to get in contact with us directly.
Call 0203 315 9535 Monday – Friday 8am – 4pm GMT to speak to the Health Adviser team. You can also leave a voicemail on this phone number, and if you leave your contact details, we will get back in touch with you to discuss further.
Alternatively, you can email the Health Adviser team on deanstreet.healthadviser@nhs.net.
Our address is 56 Dean Street, Soho, LONDON W1D 6AQ. We are part of Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust.
