Testing times: testing patient acceptance and ability to self-screen for a No-Talk Testing service

Genitourinary medicine (GUM) departments need to be resource efficient to manage the increasing numbers of patients seeking to access services. At the Edinburgh GUM department, we wished to develop a new No-Talk Testing (NTT) clinic for asymptomatic, low-risk patients attending for routine sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening. We undertook a questionnaire feasibility study to determine patient acceptability and ability to self-screen for this service. A total of 267 respondents completed questionnaires regarding acceptability of a future NTT service; 227 agreed to comparison of their self-screen with clinician risk-assessment. Overall, patient acceptability for a future NTT service was high, with an average of 7.8/10 awarded for opinion. Seventy-three percent of patients agreed they would consider utilizing such a service in the future. Sixty-one percent of respondents suggested at least one benefit to a future NTT service; principally, prospects for increased speed, efficiency, capacity and reduced waiting times. Comparing STI risk self-assessment with clinician assessment, discrepancies were identified for 37% of individuals. However, a majority (70%) of the discrepancies identified were due to a risk being noted in the self-screen alone, and missed from clinician notes. In summary, the study demonstrated NTT as acceptable and feasible. Based on these results, we have now successfully introduced such a service within our department.