The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7375 p596
12 November 2005

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Minister launches Boots chlamydia service

Boots The Chemists begins a government-funded chlamydia screening service on 14 November. The two-year pilot, to be offered in over 200 stores across London, is an extension of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme. It will allow the Department of Health to evaluate the potential of pharmacies as chlamydia screening venues.

Launching the service at a Boots store in Oxford Street, public health minister Caroline Flint, said: “We know that people may want to go somewhere anonymous. The screening programme is going to help a lot of young people who are unaware [that they might have chlamydia] to come forward.”

People between the ages of 16 and 24 years will be able to go into Boots pharmacies in London and pick up a free urine test kit. The sample is returned to the pharmacy and sent for analysis. People will be notified of their results within three working days. Those with a positive result (and their partners) will be offered free antibiotics (azithromycin or doxycycline) under a patient group direction.