HealthInfo West Coast-Te Tai Poutini
Sexual Health Clinic
The West Coast DHB Sexual Health Clinic is free to patients and confidential. It offers a comprehensive specialist service for anyone needing tests, treatment, and follow-up for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and associated genital or urinary problems.
You need to make an appointment before going to the clinic. To make an appointment, phone the clinic you will be attending, during clinic hours, on its number below.
Greymouth
The Link Clinic
Address: First floor, Grey Base Hospital, High St, Greymouth
Open: Monday 2:30 pm to 6 pm
This is a drop-in clinic, you need to be there by 5:30 pm to be seen
Phone: (03) 769‑7400, ext 2874 (clinic hours only)
Westport
Outpatients, Buller Health
Address: Cobden St, Westport
Open: Wednesday 10:30 to 11:30 am appointments
Phone: (03) 788‑9030, ext 8756 (clinic hours only)
When you arrive, reception will record your name, address, and so on. We will ask you to take a seat in the waiting area until the doctor or nurse is available to see you.
You may want your partner or support person to come along with you. Just be aware that you may need to discuss personal information in your consultation with the doctor or nurse, and think about whether you want your support person to hear.
During your consultation
The doctor or nurse will ask you about what's worrying you. They will also ask some questions to find out what is likely to have caused the thing that's worrying you. These questions can be intimate and about your sex life, but are not meant to embarrass or upset you. You might find some of these questions a bit difficult, but the answers can help the doctor or nurse to decide what's the best way to treat your problem.
With your consent (meaning you will be asked if it's OK), the doctor or nurse will examine you and do any tests you need. Generally, the clinic tests everyone for gonorrhoea, chlamydia and other bacterial infections, and for syphilis and HIV. HIV and syphilis tests are simple blood tests that everyone who goes to the clinic has. Gonorrhoea, chlamydia and other bacterial infection tests are swabs that everyone who goes to the clinic has.
If your doctor or nurse thinks you might have hepatitis B they will also suggest you have a test for this. They will always discuss the tests with you and ask if you agree to have them.
Please do not pass wee (urine) for two hours before your appointment.
If you want, the clinic can code your test results to ensure no one can see your name on them. Or the tests can go under your NHI number, which means that other health professionals who help to care for you will be able to see them.
The clinic can do some tests while you wait, others take five working days for results. The clinic will try to contact you if a test is positive or needs repeating, so please check your contact details at every visit. If you'd rather phone for results, you will need to quote the clinic number you got from the receptionist.
Treatment
You can get condoms for free from the clinic – just ask for them.
You may get pills, cream, or injections to treat your condition. The doctor or nurse will tell you how to take or use any medication, and put it in writing. Sometimes they will give you a prescription to take to a chemist. You don't have to pay for treatments that you get while you are actually at the clinic.
Follow-up
You may need to return for another appointment. This is usually to make sure that the treatment has cured your infection, or for further treatment and advice. If you miss a follow-up appointment, the clinic may phone you if you have a specific infection that needs to be followed up quickly, or that they need to test you for to make sure it's gone. Sometimes it is best not to have sex until the results of your follow-up test.
This appointment is also a chance to talk in a relaxed environment, about anything else affecting your sexual health.
To make sure everything goes well at your visit, please:
- phone to let the clinic know if you can't make it to your appointment
- follow any instructions for taking your treatment
- come to any follow-up appointments
- don't wee (pass urine) for at least two hours before your appointment
- let the clinic know how they should or shouldn't contact you
- ask the doctor or nurse if there is something you want to know
- let the clinic know if there's something about your visit that isn't quite right, so they can look at how to make it better.
Please be on time. If you are late for your appointment, you might have to wait until somebody can see you, or you might have to make another appointment.
Information provided by the Canterbury DHB. Last reviewed June 2016.
See also:
Review key: HISHC-21685
