iCaSH – NHS Integrated Contraception and Sexual Health services

What to expect

iCaSH staff are trained to provide expert professional advice and care to meet your individual needs with tact and sensitivity, respecting the diversity of their clients. All information that you give them is confidential and they will not tell anyone else about your personal information. However, there are some exceptional circumstances where they would need to share your information to keep you or others safe.

All iCaSH clinics are self-referral, which means that a GP referral letter is not necessary. The service is free, confidential and non-judgemental.

iCaSH offers either a telephone consultation or a face-to-face appointment as appropriate to your needs.

Telephone consultations
Please make every effort to ensure that you are available to speak to your clinician when they call you. If, for any reason, it will not be possible for you to take their call, please call the clinic on 0300 300 3030 at the earliest opportunity to re-book your appointment.

Please make sure you are somewhere private during this appointment, as your clinician will ask you questions, some of which will be personal. You may be asked about previous sexual partners; this is normal, they ask all patients. This information will help to inform what advice, tests or treatments you require. Please don’t be embarrassed, they’re used to talking about sensitive issues. If there is anyone else on the call with you or in earshot, please let the clinician know.

If for any reason there is anyone else present in the room or on the call with the clinician (eg: translator, trainee or student) they will advise you of this before starting the consultation.

Face to face consultations
If attending in person, you will be seen by a clinician who will ask some questions, some of which will be personal. You may be asked about previous sexual partners; this is normal, they ask all patients.  This information will help to inform what advice, tests or treatments you require. Please don’t be embarrassed, they’re used to talking about sensitive issues.

If an examination is required, you will be offered a chaperone i.e. a member of staff trained specifically to support both you as the patient and the clinician undertaking the examination.

Wherever possible, please attend alone. If it would be helpful to bring someone with you, please let the clinic know.

Interpreter
Please let iCaSH know when you book your appointment if you require an interpreter during your consultation. They do not advise using friends or relatives as interpreters, as they may not completely understand the medical information and may not be able to interpret in full.

More information

iCaSH works in partnership with AccessAble to provide access guides for their clinics. These provide information about how to get there and also what the clinic looks like, access, toilets etc. These are reviewed annually. Find the Wisbech clinic guide on this page.

The iCaSH (integrated Contraception and Sexual Health) service provides all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, including contraception, sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV testing and treatment for free.

This includes:

• C-card – free condoms for 13-24 years old
• Chlamydia testing
• Condoms
• Contraception
• Emergency contraception
• Express Test – online STI testing for 16 years and over
• HIV testing
• PrEP (HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)
• STI testing
• Support and advice

Hear staff at iCASH talk about the service: