Care charter: Our promise to you
We promise to give you the best possible care. This charter explains what you can expect when interacting with us. It also explains what we hope for in return from you to help the service run as smoothly as possible.
We’d always recommend visiting our FAQs and help centre, they are full of helpful information.
What to do if you need to speak to us
You can contact us by text, email or phone.
By text
If you’ve ordered from us and have a question, you can reply to one of our text messages.
Our clinical team are text based and here to support you. Message them with any clinical queries after you've made an order. They respond to text messages 7 days a week, and our core hours are 9am-5pm.
We reply to text messages through a specially built computer system. Some of our messages are automatic, for example, the order approved message. But do not worry, if you’ve asked a question, it will be seen by a member of our team and answered.
As we hope you’ll understand, we need to prioritise certain queries. However if you haven’t heard back from us after 72 hours, feel free to give us a nudge.
By email
If you’re new to our service or cannot text us back, please email our friendly customer care team on sh24.info@nhs.net or or ireland@sh24.org.uk (ROI). They will help you with your query.
We’d recommend emailing us if you have general questions, you'd like to access your health records or exercise your GDPR rights. We'll ask for some basic information to find your SH:24 record.
Customer care are available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
We will respond as soon as possible, but if you haven’t heard from us after 72 hours, feel free to give us a nudge.
By phone
If you need to speak to us over the phone, call us on 020 3318 7609 during our core hours: 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Please note:
If you have an urgent enquiry, especially if you’re experiencing painful symptoms or side effects, call NHS 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk.
If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours, find your local NHS emergency PEP service.
If you need emergency contraception and we cannot help, we recommend you go to your local clinic or pharmacy or your GP.
What to expect if we need to speak to you
If we need to speak to you about your order we might text, phone or email to get in touch.
By text
We send automatic texts about your order including test results. If you text us a question, a member of our team will reply to you.
You might want to change your phone settings to keep your messages from us more private. For example, turning off message previews will stop our texts from appearing on your lock screen.
You can stop text messages by replying to any of our texts with the word STOP. You will need to text the word START to use any of our services again in the future (SH:24, Fettle or Freetesting.HIV), like chatting with our clinical team and placing an order.
By phone
If we need to speak to you on the phone, we'll text you first to arrange a time that suits you.
Now and again, there may be a situation where we need to call you without arranging it first. This might be if we’ve tried to get in touch by text message or email about an emergency contraception order, but haven’t heard back.
By email
If our text message with your test results fails to deliver to you, we may send an email to let you know your results are ready.
By letter
In rare cases we might send you a letter asking you to contact us. This most often happens when we need to talk to you about your test results, but have not been able to reach you by text or email.
What to expect when you speak to us
We will treat you fairly and respectfully, with equality and diversity at the heart of everything we do.
We will be polite, helpful, open and honest with you.
We will listen to you and understand your needs.
We will explain decisions and outcomes clearly.
We will protect your medical privacy and confidentiality rights.
We aim to share quality, accurate and up-to-date information.
We aim to use simple and clear language.
We will not ask for ID unless there is a clinical or privacy concern.
How you can help us help you
Be as honest as you can when asked for information, so we can provide you with the most accurate advice and support.
Only place orders for yourself using your own mobile number, to ensure medical privacy.
Be mindful of our free testing limits (every 12 weeks). You cannot test more frequently than this due to NHS guidelines and budget constraints. However, you can purchase tests from our sister-service, Fettle, at any time, or visit your free local clinic.
Treat our staff with dignity and respect.
Be patient for a text back, we will respond as soon as we can.
Tell us about any important changes like your mobile number or delivery address as soon as you can.
Once your order is closed we will text you a link to complete a survey about how we’ve done. If you have any comments or suggestions, let us know.
How we will keep our promise
How we keep things running smoothly
We will monitor our performance against what we’ve promised here, every quarter.
We will follow clear processes and procedures, which are regularly reviewed, to ensure our users receive consistently excellent customer care.
We will make sure all our staff receive up-to-date training in equality, diversity and human rights, and are DBS checked. We will do this as often as needed.
We will listen to your feedback and provide lots of opportunities for you to give it to us.
We will take corrective and preventative actions following complaints whenever SH:24 are at fault or could do something better.
What to do when things go wrong
We will do our best to resolve any problems with you as soon as you have a concern. Please reach out to our customer care team who will do their best to help you.
If you’d like to make a formal complaint, email sh24.complaints@nhs.net with the subject line ‘complaint’.
Formal complaints should always be acknowledged via email response within 3 working days. We aim to successfully investigate, and resolve any problems as quickly as possible.
We will always try to make changes to our service to make sure that any problems you raise don’t happen again.
If you’re not happy with how we have handled your complaint or care, you contact CQC (or RQIA if you’re in Northern Ireland) - let us know and we can help you to do this.
If you’re not happy with how we have handled your personal data, you can always reach out to the ICO - let us know and we can help you to do this.
How we are audited
We are CQC and RQIA accredited to make sure you are receiving quality care.
We are BSI accredited to make sure our technical standards are up to date.
We are ISO 13485 accredited to make sure that our products and services are up to scratch.
We work closely with our Data Protection Officer and are registered with the ICO to ensure that your data is carefully looked after.
We have Cyber Essential certification to protect SH:24 from online threats.
