56 Dean Street

56 Dean Street is a friendly, convenient and free NHS sexual health clinic in the heart of London. The service, based in Soho also offers full outpatient HIV clinic services.

If you are at risk we recommend annual HIV testing. People who find out early that they have HIV live longer healthier lives than those who test late. That’s why we can offer you a free walk in rapid HIV test throughout our opening hours. We have tests that can provide an HIV diagnosis in less than 5 minutes. You can also walk in for the following services, Hepatitis B vaccination for at-risk individuals, free condoms, PEP and emergency contraception.

All of our other services are by appointment.

• Pregnancy testing and emergency contraception/morning after pill
• Testing for sexually transmitted infections (STI/STD test)
• Full range of contraceptives including implants and coils
• Follow-up care for patients who are HIV+
• Hepatitis B and C screening and Hepatitis B vaccinations for at-risk individuals
• Safer sex advice and health adviser-led counselling

We have a very limited number of emergency appointments for people with symptoms that suggest a sexually transmitted infection—for example, genital blisters, discharge from your penis or if a partner tells you they have gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis or LGV. These appointments go quickly, so if you hope to be seen we would advise you to arrive early in the day.

Dean Street has a long history of providing sexual health services. The world’s first VD clinic for men was based at 91 Dean Street, London in 1862. Over the years our GUM clinic has had several different names and has been based in different parts of London. Originally we were part of the Westminster Hospital and were known as Outpatient 6. It was at the Westminster Hospital that Professor Brian Gazzard diagnosed one of Europe’s first cases of AIDS in 1981.

In 1993, the Westminster Hospital moved to Fulham Road to become part of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Outpatient 6 relocated to Vincent Square and we changed our name to the Victoria Clinic. We've been known as '56 Dean Street' since we moved to Soho in March 2009.

The Trust’s HIV and sexual health centres have an excellent national and international reputation. We’ve always tried to be at the forefront of developing high quality services. In 2003, we were the first NHS service to offer rapid 1 hour HIV POC testing. As a consequence, the clinic has won several national awards for its excellent, innovative and engaging work.

We aim to deliver a first class HIV and sexual health service for all our patients by utilising the latest technology in a modern environment (including Wi-Fi internet access), delivered by a warm and friendly team of staff.

It’s really important to us that our service is convenient which is why we offer 3 late evening clinics and are one of the few NHS GUM clinics in the UK to open on Saturday.

We look forward to welcoming you to our service.

—The 56 Dean Street Team