Sexual health services — Manawatū-Whanganui
Our friendly team provides free confidential and specialist sexual health services. You can access our services by making an appointment or through a referral by your healthcare provider.
Contact us
The Manawatū-Whanganui region operates 2 separate sexual health services for:
- Manawatū, Tararua and Horowhenua
- Whanganui.
Contact details are included below. Services differ slightly between the regions.
Call to make an appointment:
- freephone 0800 808 602 or phone 06 350 8602
We may not be able to answer straight away but we will return your call. For confidentiality, the call to your phone will have a blocked ID.
Sexual health services runs clinics from:
Our Palmerston North clinic is based in the Community Health Village, Rimu House (next to Gate 12) by Palmerston North Hospital.
Community Health Village, Palmerston North Hospital — visitor map
Walk-in consultations
We do not provide a walk-in service. You will need to make an appointment.
Remote testing
We provide free testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) without coming into the clinic if you do not have any symptoms.
Call to make an appointment:
- mobile 021 323 077
- email MCW-NPHSSexualHealth@tewhatuora.govt.nz
We may not be able to answer straight away but we will return your call. For confidentiality, the call to your phone will have a blocked ID.
Sexual health services runs its clinic within the outpatient department at Whanganui Hospital.
Walk-in consultations
We have a free walk-in service (no appointment needed) for sexual health consultations on Thursday evenings from 4:45pm to 6pm.
Remote testing
We do not provide remote testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). You will need to visit the clinic.
Services we offer
We offer prevention, diagnosis and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including syphilis and HIV.
We offer mpox (monkeypox) vaccine consultation for those who meet the criteria. Burnett Foundation Aotearoa and Health New Zealand have more information on this.
Mpox (monkeypox) — Burnett Foundation Aotearoa
Mpox (monkeypox) — Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
We provide other services on referral from your usual healthcare provider, including
management of genital skin conditions and genital pain.
We also provide advice and support to primary care providers, such as gender affirming healthcare.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV
PrEP means taking daily medicine to reduce the risk of becoming infected with HIV. If you are interested in PrEP, call us to make an appointment for an assessment.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV
PEP means taking medicine to prevent HIV infection after a possible exposure. It needs to be taken within 72 hours of possible exposure, but the sooner the better.
If you think you need PEP, call us promptly.
Comprehensive information about PrEP and PEP is available from Burnett Foundation Aotearoa.
Remote testing
You can access free testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) without coming into the clinic if you do not have any symptoms.
We can send you an STI testing kit and you can take your own samples and drop them into the laboratory. You can also have a blood test done there to test for HIV and syphilis.
Call us if you are interested in having a testing kit sent to you.
Remote testing is available from the Manawatū, Tararua and Horowhenua service but not the Whanganui service.
What else you should know
Symptom free is no guarantee
- You can have an STI without having any symptoms.
- STIs have incubation periods — it takes at least 2 weeks for most STIs to be detected in tests, and up to 12 weeks for blood-borne infections such as HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis.
- If you have had unprotected sex with someone new, it is important to have a sexual health check since untreated STIs can lead to health complications.
If you are not a New Zealand resident
If you are not eligible for funded healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand, there are restrictions on the tests and services you can have from this clinic.
Guide to eligibility for public health services — Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
What to expect at the clinic
If you have been referred
If you have been referred to our clinic, we need your general practitioner or referring healthcare provider to send us a letter before booking your appointment. This will include all of the laboratory test results and other information we need.
The information from your referrer lets us make sure you see the healthcare provider who can best help you with your problem.
We will contact you either by phone or letter to arrange your appointment once we have all the information we need.
Manawatū, Tararua and Horowhenua — freephone 0800 808 602 or phone 06 350 8602
Whanganui — phone mobile 021 323 077.
Confidentiality
You may have laboratory tests as part of your care at this clinic. Tests are usually done under your National Health Index (NHI) number — this is a unique number given to every person who uses health and disability support services in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The main hospital services and your general practitioner also use your NHI number.
Your NHI number is not a health record. It is simply a unique combination of letters and numbers which helps identify who you are. This way of identifying you is an important part of your clinical safety. The NHI number is an essential way for services to link information and gain a better understanding of each person’s needs.
In some circumstances, we may be required to share information about your visit or your diagnosis.
If you are particularly worried about confidentiality or you are not entitled to funded health care in New Zealand, please talk to the nurse or doctor so we can discuss an alternative option with you.
Medical students and other healthcare professionals attend from time to time for training. We will always ask your permission before allowing them to attend your consultation.
Your consultation
Feel free to bring a friend with you if you wish. We do ask some personal and sensitive questions though, so you may not want them to be present in the consultation. If you need an interpreter, we can provide one, but we need a minimum of 3 days’ notice to arrange this.
A doctor or nurse will talk to you about your reasons for attending. They will ask you several personal questions including some personal sexual details. Although this may be embarrassing it is important that we have the correct information to allow us to perform the right tests and give you the right treatment.
During your consultation we will discuss what tests we recommend you have. Testing can include:
- swabs
- a urine sample (so do not pee for at least 2 hours before your appointment)
- a blood test.
Swabs can be self-collected if you do not have any symptoms, although the nurse or doctor can take the swabs if you prefer. The test samples are sent to the laboratory and it usually takes several days for the results.
We recommend you have an examination if you have any symptoms.
If you need treatment, we can usually provide this at the clinic free of charge.