The commonest bacterial STI in the UK, usually silent, and easily cured.
Assessed and treated by a GMC-registered GP
Prescriptions, sick notes and referral letters included
A written treatment plan after every appointment
Your NHS records in the room, with your consent
Care led personally by Dr Khan
Attentive, unhurried care that listens properly
Five-star Google reviews from the people we have looked after
Registered with the Care Quality Commission
Chlamydia is the commonest bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the UK. It is easily treated with a week of antibiotics and, left alone, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and tubal infertility.
The defining fact about it is that most people who have it have no idea. Around seven in ten infected women and half of infected men have no symptoms at all. There is nothing to notice, nothing to prompt a visit, and the infection quietly continues — which is why chlamydia is found by testing rather than by symptoms, and why "I feel fine" is not information.
Three practical points that make a real difference and are routinely got wrong:
And one thing we will say plainly, because it costs us the booking: NHS sexual health clinics do this exceptionally well, entirely free, including partner notification and full screening. If you can access one, that is often the better route. We are here for speed, privacy, or when clinic access is difficult.
Around 70% of women and 50% of men have no symptoms whatsoever. This is the single most important thing on this page. An absent symptom is not an absent infection, and the only way to know is to test.
Chlamydia trachomatis, a bacterium transmitted through unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex, and by genital contact without penetration. It can also pass from mother to baby during birth, causing eye or chest infection in the newborn.
You do not need penetration or ejaculation to catch it, which surprises people. Sharing sex toys without washing them or changing the condom also transmits it.
Toilet seats, towels, swimming pools, cutlery, kissing or hugging. Worth stating, because the anxiety around this is common and misplaced.
In women:
In men: epididymo-orchitis, and rarely reduced fertility. In anyone: reactive arthritis — joint pain, eye inflammation and urinary symptoms together — which is uncommon but genuinely disabling.
Chlamydia rarely travels alone. Gonorrhoea in particular is frequently found alongside it, and anyone testing for one should be tested for the other, plus HIV and syphilis. LGV — an aggressive rectal form of chlamydia — occurs mainly in men who have sex with men and needs a longer treatment course.
Testing is straightforward and works well remotely — the sample is self-taken, and there is no examination required for an uncomplicated case.
The test is a NAAT, which detects the bacterium's genetic material. It is highly accurate. Where the accuracy is lost is in sample choice:
Current partners, and usually anyone from the past six months, need testing and treating.
NHS sexual health clinics will do this for you, anonymously and free. Your name is never given. If telling a former partner feels impossible, that service exists precisely for that, and using it is the responsible choice rather than a lesser one. We can also provide a note for a partner to take to their own doctor.
NHS sexual health clinics are excellent, free, confidential, and do partner notification properly. They are usually the better option, and we will say so. Come to us if you want it dealt with today, want the privacy of your own home, cannot get an appointment, or would simply rather have the conversation with a GP.
Go to A&E or call 999 for:
Seek same-day medical advice for:
Arrange a prompt appointment for:
Book a routine test if:
Worth saying directly. Chlamydia is extremely common, frequently carried for months or years without any symptoms, and its presence tells you nothing reliable about when — or with whom — it was acquired. A positive result in a long relationship is not proof of anything, and a great deal of unnecessary damage is done by assuming otherwise. If that situation is in front of you, it is worth asking about before drawing conclusions.
The most important argument for testing without symptoms: tubal damage can occur in women who never had a single symptom. It is not discovered at the time; it is discovered years later during fertility investigation, when it cannot be undone. A test that costs very little now removes that possibility.
NHS sexual health services are free, expert, confidential and frequently walk-in — and for chlamydia they are simply better than a private GP. We would send you there rather than take a fee, and that is not false modesty: they do partner notification, they test for everything alongside, and they do it anonymously.
Free NHS postal testing kits are available across much of England — ordered online, posted to your home, returned by post, results by text. For anyone under 25, the National Chlamydia Screening Programme offers free testing routinely.
Partner notification is the part private care handles badly and sexual health clinics handle well. They can contact partners anonymously on your behalf, which most people find far easier than doing it themselves — and untreated partners are the reason chlamydia recurs.
Where a private consultation genuinely helps is speed and privacy for someone who will not attend a clinic, and treating a partner where testing has already confirmed the diagnosis.
The clinical points that matter: chlamydia is usually completely symptomless, which is why testing rather than waiting for symptoms is the whole strategy; a test of cure is not routinely needed except in pregnancy or rectal infection; and retesting after three months is recommended, because reinfection is common.
Pelvic pain, fever, or pain during sex needs prompt assessment — pelvic inflammatory disease affects future fertility and is treated urgently.
BASHH (British Association for Sexual Health and HIV) UK national guideline for the management of infection with Chlamydia trachomatis is the principal reference. It recommends doxycycline 100mg twice daily for seven days as first-line treatment, having moved away from single-dose azithromycin because of efficacy and resistance concerns.
BASHH recommends azithromycin as an alternative where doxycycline is contraindicated, including in pregnancy.
BASHH recommends against routine test of cure except in pregnancy, rectal infection, or where adherence is in doubt — but recommends retesting at three months because of high reinfection rates.
The National Chlamydia Screening Programme offers opportunistic testing for those aged 15 to 24 in England.
BASHH and NICE guidance cover partner notification, and NICE CKS covers pelvic inflammatory disease as a complication requiring prompt treatment to protect fertility.
Yes, and this is the whole point of the condition. Around 70% of infected women and half of infected men have no symptoms at all. Feeling fine tells you nothing. The damage that matters most — tubal scarring affecting future fertility — happens silently, and is discovered years later when it is too late to prevent.
Women: a self-taken vaginal swab, not urine. It is measurably more accurate, and urine kits sold to women do miss infections. Men: first-catch urine, having held it for at least an hour. And if you have had receptive anal or oral sex, ask specifically for rectal and throat swabs — a genital test cannot detect infection at those sites, and they are commonly overlooked.
From two weeks after the exposure. Earlier than that can miss it — so if you test at a few days and it is negative, repeat it at two weeks rather than treating that result as final.
No — most people treated promptly have no lasting effects at all. The risk comes from infection left untreated for a long time, where scarring of the fallopian tubes can develop. Since most infections are silent, the only reliable protection is testing rather than waiting to feel unwell. Treated early, the outlook is excellent.
Not necessarily, and this is worth pausing on before anything is said. Chlamydia can be carried for months or even years with no symptoms whatsoever, so a positive result gives no reliable information about when it was acquired. It may predate the relationship entirely. It is a genuinely common source of unnecessary harm, and we would rather raise it than let you assume.
You do not have to do it yourself. NHS sexual health clinics will contact them for you, anonymously and free — your name is never disclosed. Using that service is the responsible option, not a lesser one. It matters, because untreated partners will reinfect you and may be unknowingly harming their own fertility.
Seven days after finishing the course — and not until your partner has completed theirs. That includes oral sex, and it includes using a condom. Skipping the second half of that rule is the commonest reason people are back with the same infection a month later.
Usually timing rather than failure. The test detects the bacterium's DNA, including from dead organisms, so a test of cure done within five weeks of treatment can read positive when the infection has cleared. Wait at least five weeks. A genuine positive after that suggests reinfection or a treatment issue, and needs reviewing.
August 23, 2026
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
Patient reviews
