Sometimes it takes a long time before you can go to your doctor or to the GGD to get an STD test. Waiting times are very long, and if you have complaints or concerns, you are obviously not waiting for that. In that case, you have two choices. You can come to a One Day Clinic clinic for a consultation with a doctor or nurse and get tested there, or if you prefer to stay home, you can order a home test! However, we often get asked what exactly is going on with these home tests. For example, people fear that home tests are less reliable than if you do the STD test at one of our clinics. Fortunately, at One Day Clinic there is no difference in reliability!

The reliability of a home test and an STI test at the clinic

Je kunt je met een thuistest laten testen op de volgende soa’s: chlamydia, gonorroe, trichomonas, mycoplasma en HIV. De testen bevatten een uitgebreide handleiding met duidelijke stappen waardoor het afnemen van het materiaal als gebruiksvriendelijk wordt ervaren. De HIV test is een zelftest die je thuis meteen via een strip kan aflezen. Daarover lees je meer in de volgende alinea. Maar wat gebeurt er dan met het afgenomen materiaal voor chlamydia, gonorroe, trichomonas en mycoplasma?

ISO certified laboratory

The material taken goes to an ISO-certified laboratory (Reinier Haga MDC) which means the tests are just as reliable as at the GP and GGD, namely 99.5%! So no reason to worry if your self-test is as reliable as the tests we take at the clinic.

The reliability of an HIV self-test

We can imagine that there may be question marks about taking a test that is not sent to the lab. How reliable is such a test really? Lab tests showed that the HIV self-test correctly identified 99.6% (1757 out of 1764) unique HIV-negative samples. Of these samples, the test correctly detected 99.5% of samples with HIV-1 infection and 100% of samples with HIV-2 infection. So even if your HIV test is not sent to the laboratory, you still have a 99.6% certainty, provided you perform the steps in the manual correctly. Piece of cake, right?

The difference in price between an STI consultation and a self-test

There is a difference in price tag between taking a test during a consultation together with our doctors or nurses, or taking a self-test at home. This difference lies in the fact that you don't have to come for a consultation if you take the test at home. You do not get medical advice from the doctor/nurse and cannot ask questions. This is why home tests can be offered for 50 euros cheaper than tests taken during a consultation. Nice for the wallet of course, but should you have questions or want advice, of course we welcome you to one of our clinics!