Sexual Health in London: Free Testing, PrEP, PEP, DoxyPEP and Mpox Jabs, Checked

NHS sexual health clinics: free, confidential and what they offer

Testing, PrEP and the rest are ordinary parts of dating for a lot of people, and in London the services are free on the NHS and close to where people go out. Knowing where they are before you need them makes the conversation with a new partner easier and makes a missed condom or a worrying night less frightening.

This guide is a map, not medical advice. Every fact below comes from an NHS page, a clinic's own site or the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), read on 14 October 2026. Where a page did not state something, such as a cost or a booking route, this guide says so rather than filling the gap. If you are unsure what applies to you, the clinic is the place to ask.

Our separate guide to LGBTQ+ community centres, clinics and helplines covers 56 Dean Street's phone lines and THT Direct in more detail, so this page concentrates on what each service does for testing and prevention.

The NHS page on sexually transmitted infections says you usually do not need a GP referral or an appointment to go to a sexual health clinic, though it advises contacting the clinic first to check. It says no information about your visit will be shared with your GP or anyone outside the clinic unless you ask, and that you do not have to give your real name. You can ask to see a female or male doctor or nurse.

It lists reasons to go: you think you may have an STI, a partner has symptoms, you are worried after sex without a condom or dental dam, you are pregnant with STI symptoms, or you have new partners. Tests can include urine samples, blood tests and swabs. If you have no symptoms, the page suggests waiting 7 weeks after unprotected sex before testing; that is the page's general advice, and a clinic may tell you something different for your situation.

The NHS HIV page says you can get an HIV test at sexual health clinics, Terrence Higgins Trust clinics, some young people's services and local drug dependency services. It says clinic tests are usually sent to a lab with results in a few days, and that a negative result may need repeating a few weeks later if you may have been recently exposed. Private clinics charge, it notes; NHS clinics may offer testing free.

56 Dean Street, Soho

56 Dean Street lists two sites: the main clinic at 56 Dean Street, W1D 6AQ, and Dean Street Express at 34 Dean Street, W1D 4PR. Its home page gives hours of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 8am to 7pm, Wednesday 12pm to 7pm, Friday 9am to 4pm and Saturday 11am to 4pm, closed Sundays and bank holidays. It does not say whether those hours apply to both sites.

The home page lists walk-in, without an appointment, for possible HIV exposure in the last 72 hours, emergency contraception and recent sexual assault, and lists starting PrEP at Dean Street Express as a walk-in option too. For everything else it points you to an online tool that works out whether you need an appointment.

Its service list covers PrEP, PEP, STI testing, HIV care, trans and non-binary services and chems advice, and it presents doxyPEP and the Bexsero vaccine as ways to reduce the risk of bacterial STIs. It also points to a free self-sampling kit ordered by post through Sexual Health London. On 14 October 2026 the home page carried a notice, dated 1 October, that the lift was out of service and asked people with access needs to call 020 3315 5656 to discuss alternatives.

• 56 Dean StreetNHS sexual health clinic

  56 Dean Street, Soho, W1D 6AQ (and Dean Street Express, 34 Dean Street, W1D 4PR)

  Open Monday to Saturday as listed on its site, closed Sundays and bank holidays; walk-in for PEP, emergency contraception and recent sexual assault, and for starting PrEP at Dean Street Express.

Mortimer Market Centre, Bloomsbury

Mortimer Market Centre, which the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust's page lists together with the Margaret Pyke Centre, is at Capper Street, off Tottenham Court Road, WC1E 6JB. The trust lists it as open Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 7pm and Friday 8.30am to 3pm, with a closure between 1pm and 4.30pm for training on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, and not open on bank holidays.

The page says walk-in is for emergency reasons only: PEP after recent HIV exposure, which it says needs to be started within 72 hours, and emergency contraception. It asks walk-in patients to arrive at least one hour before closing and warns you may have to wait, come back another time or go to one of its other clinics. Everything else, including PrEP and contraception, is booked online, with a separate screening tool for men who have sex with men.

• Mortimer Market CentreNHS sexual health clinic

  Capper Street, off Tottenham Court Road, WC1E 6JB

  Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 7pm and Friday 8.30am to 3pm as the trust lists them; walk-in only for PEP and emergency contraception, arriving at least an hour before closing.

cliniQ: a trans-led service in Camberwell

cliniQ describes itself as a trans-led sexual health service for all trans, nonbinary and gender diverse people, and as a confidential space for people who may not feel comfortable in mainstream services. Its site gives the Caldecot Centre, 15-22 Caldecot Road, SE5 9RS, and lists STI and HIV testing, PrEP and PEP, and mental wellbeing support.

It runs on Tuesdays, but the site gives two different closing times, 6.30pm near the top and 7pm in its opening hours section, so check before you travel. The site does not describe a booking process; the contact it lists is admin@cliniq.org.uk. For online STI screening it links to a Sexual Health London web address (camberwell.shl.uk), and for contraception to King's College Hospital's sexual health service.

• cliniQtrans led sexual health service

  Caldecot Centre, 15-22 Caldecot Road, Camberwell, SE5 9RS

  Tuesday afternoon and evening sessions (the site gives both 6.30pm and 7pm as closing times) offering STI and HIV testing, PrEP, PEP and wellbeing support.

Testing at home

If you do not need to see anyone in person, postal testing is the easy option. SH:24 describes its service as free, discreet and confidential, with no appointment needed to test at home for the most common STIs. Its home page also offers free PrEP, contraception, emergency contraception, condoms and photo diagnosis of warts and herpes, sent in plain packaging that fits through a letterbox. What you can order depends on where you live: the page asks for your age and postcode to check which services are available in your area, and it does not list the eligibility rules itself.

In London, 56 Dean Street points to Sexual Health London (SHL) for a free self-sampling kit ordered by post, and cliniQ links to an SHL address for online screening. Sexual Health London's own site could not be read for this guide, so its eligibility rules, test list and how it returns results are not given here; check them on its site when you order.

For HIV specifically, the NHS says home testing kits are sold in pharmacies and online, often with results in minutes, and advises choosing one clearly marked for self-testing, with a CE mark and an intact seal. It says a positive self-test needs a blood test at a clinic to confirm, and that you can check at freetesting.hiv whether you can get a free test.

PrEP on the NHS

PrEP is medicine taken before sex to reduce the chance of getting HIV. The NHS HIV prevention page says it can help you avoid getting and spreading HIV if you are at higher risk, that it is available free on the NHS from sexual health clinics, and that it usually comes as tablets taken every day or on demand. It adds that some people may instead need an injection every two months.

In practice that means booking a sexual health clinic. Mortimer Market Centre lists PrEP among its booked services, cliniQ lists it, and 56 Dean Street lists starting PrEP as a walk-in option at Dean Street Express. SH:24's home page also offers PrEP to order, subject to the area check. The clinic will tell you which way of taking it suits you and what tests you need; this guide does not repeat dosing advice.

PrEP is for HIV. 56 Dean Street's page groups doxyPEP and the Bexsero vaccine separately as ways of reducing the risk of bacterial STIs, which is a reminder that regular testing still matters when you are on PrEP.

After a risk: PEP within 72 hours

PEP is emergency HIV medicine taken after a possible exposure, such as a condom breaking with a partner whose status you do not know. The NHS says it is for when you think you have been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours and that it is available from sexual health clinics and A&E. Mortimer Market Centre's page says PEP needs to be started within 72 hours of exposure. The NHS HIV page says to go to a sexual health clinic or A&E promptly if you may have been exposed in the last 72 hours, as they can give emergency HIV medicine.

Timing matters, so think about where you would go at the weekend. 56 Dean Street is closed on Sundays and Mortimer Market Centre is closed at weekends and on bank holidays, and both list walk-in for PEP only during opening hours. When the clinics are shut, the NHS route is A&E. If the risk involved sexual assault, 56 Dean Street lists walk-in for that too; our community centres and helplines guide covers further support.

DoxyPEP: where it stands in the UK

DoxyPEP means taking the antibiotic doxycycline after sex to reduce the chance of some bacterial STIs. For years UK bodies did not endorse it: a BASHH news item from November 2017 reported a joint position with Public Health England that doxycycline PEP was not endorsed and urged extreme caution because of antimicrobial resistance.

That changed on 9 June 2025, when BASHH published what it calls UK-first guidelines on doxyPEP for the prevention of syphilis. The guideline, whose authors include UK Health Security Agency staff, recommends doxyPEP for cisgender gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and trans women at elevated risk of acquiring syphilis. It says clinicians may consider it case by case for people assigned female at birth at elevated risk. Its recommended dose is a single 200mg dose within 24 hours and no later than 72 hours after sex.

The guideline is clear about its limits. It says users should be told doxyPEP is only for preventing syphilis and chlamydia, is not 100% effective, is unlikely to prevent gonorrhoea and does not protect against other STIs. It says doxyPEP should be part of a comprehensive approach to STI prevention, along with condom use, HIV prevention, vaccination and STI testing, and that users should test at a frequency consistent with current BASHH guidelines. 56 Dean Street's home page presents doxyPEP as a way for gay men to reduce their risk of bacterial STIs; ask your clinic whether it offers it rather than sourcing antibiotics yourself.

The mpox vaccine

The NHS mpox vaccine page says the vaccine is recommended if you are at higher risk of getting mpox. It says this mainly means men who have sex with men who have multiple partners, take part in group sex or visit sex-on-premises venues, as well as people who work at those venues, such as cleaning staff, and people who have had or are likely to have close contact with someone with mpox.

It says most people will be offered 2 doses, usually at least 28 days apart, and that people with a severely weakened immune system may be offered an extra dose if it has been 2 years since they had the vaccine. The vaccine is available in sexual health services, and the page is explicit: call a sexual health clinic to check whether you are eligible, and do not go to a clinic for the mpox vaccine without speaking to them first. The page does not mention a charge.

56 Dean Street's home page carried mpox advice and an update on the check date but did not list the vaccine as a bookable service there, so phone the clinic you use.

Before you go

• Check the clinic's page on the day. Hours here were read on 14 October 2026, and 56 Dean Street's lift notice shows how quickly practical details change.
• For PEP, go as soon as you can within 72 hours. If the clinics are closed, the NHS says A&E can provide it.
• Walk-in at both central clinics is for set emergencies; book online for routine testing, PrEP and contraception.
• Phone before going for the mpox vaccine, as the NHS page asks.
• If you have access needs, call 56 Dean Street on 020 3315 5656 while its lift notice is up, or ask any clinic in advance.
• Talk to the clinic about doxyPEP rather than using leftover or bought antibiotics; the BASHH guideline sets out testing and monitoring alongside it.

Questions people ask

Is PrEP free in London?

The NHS says PrEP is available free on the NHS from sexual health clinics. In London that includes clinics such as 56 Dean Street, Mortimer Market Centre and cliniQ, all of which list it. SH:24 also offers free PrEP to order online, depending on where you live.

How quickly do I need PEP?

The NHS says PEP is for when you think you have been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours, and that it is available from sexual health clinics and A&E. Mortimer Market Centre says it needs to be started within 72 hours. Go as soon as you can.

Can I get doxyPEP on the NHS?

BASHH published a UK guideline on 9 June 2025 recommending doxyPEP for cisgender gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and trans women at elevated risk of syphilis. 56 Dean Street's home page presents doxyPEP as a way to reduce the risk of bacterial STIs. Ask your clinic whether it offers it and whether it suits you.

Who can get the mpox vaccine?

The NHS says it is recommended mainly for men who have sex with men who have multiple partners, have group sex or visit sex-on-premises venues, plus people working at those venues and close contacts of someone with mpox. Call a sexual health clinic to check; the NHS asks you not to turn up without calling first.

Will my GP find out if I visit a sexual health clinic?

The NHS says no information about your visit will be shared with your GP or anyone outside the clinic unless you ask, and that you do not have to give your real name.