title: National audit of asymptomatic screening in UK genitourinary medicine clinics: clinic policies audit.
abstract: Of clinics responding to the audit, 99 and 97% have policies that are compliant with the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV National Guidelines for testing of asymptomatic men and women for HIV and syphilis, respectively. All clinics offer men, and all but one clinic offer women, screening for chlamydial infection with nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), as recommended by the guidelines. However, for gonorrhoea screening one-third of clinics offer men urine or urethral NAATs, and one quarter of clinics offer women endocervical, vulvovaginal or urinary NAATs, and not endocervical culture, and these practices are not compliant with the guidelines. Eight clinics did not specify whether they routinely offer testing for gonorrhoea in women. One-third of clinics routinely perform rectal and oropharyngeal screening for gonorrhoea in men who have sex with men (MSM), but fewer screen for chlamydia, regardless of sexual history which is stated as a determinant of offering screening at these anatomical sites. Finally, one-fifth of clinics offer urethral microscopy to asymptomatic heterosexual men and MSM, and about one half of clinics offer urethral culture for detection of gonorrhoea in asymptomatic women, even though these practices are not compliant with the guidelines.
authors.affiliation: BASHH, The Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Carne
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McClean
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menon-Johansson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gokhale
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sethi
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Mammen-Tobin
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Daniels
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000175:diagnosis; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008828:Microbiological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016134:Organizational Policy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012007:Rectum / Q000382:microbiology; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013587:Syphilis / Q000175:diagnosis; D006113:United Kingdom; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology; D014844:Vulva / Q000382:microbiology