When results arrive
For the free home test, SH:24 publishes the timings: your samples take about 3 to 4 days to reach the lab by Freepost, then up to 72 hours to test and send your results.
You get a text when they're ready. If you have an account they sit in it; if you don't, the results come in the text itself. If it's been more than seven working days, SH:24 says to contact them.
Clinic timings vary and aren't published centrally — ask when you're there. It's one of the five questions worth asking before you leave.
A negative result
Nothing was found. That's the good news, and for most people it's the end of it.
Two things it doesn't cover, though, and both are worth thirty seconds of your attention:
Anything too recent
An infection you picked up in the last few weeks may not have been detectable yet.
Anywhere that wasn't sampled
A urine sample says nothing about your throat. A negative only covers the sites that were actually swabbed.
Anything not on the panel
You were tested for what your consultation or your clinician selected — not for everything that exists.
Ask which infections your result covers.
"Reactive" is not the same as positive
This is the one that frightens people unnecessarily, so it's worth being clear.
A reactive HIV screening result means the first test picked something up that needs checking. It is not a diagnosis. SH:24 says that if your HIV result is reactive, they'll help you have a second blood sample taken in a clinic so further tests can be done.
Screening tests are deliberately set to err towards catching things. A reactive first result can turn out to be negative on confirmation. Wait for the confirmatory test before you conclude anything — and take the appointment they offer you.
A positive result
Almost every STI in Ireland is either cured with antibiotics or managed with treatment that works. A positive result is a thing to deal with, not a catastrophe.
SH:24 says that if you have an infection, they'll advise you how to get treatment and further support, and that for chlamydia they can offer free treatment. A clinic will treat you directly.
What to do, in what order, is a page of its own: If you test positive. Telling a partner has one too: how to tell a partner.
If you're asked to send another sample
It happens, and it usually means the lab couldn't read the sample rather than that something was found. Not enough blood, a swab that didn't pick up enough, a sample that took too long to arrive.
We can't tell you which of those it was — no Irish service publishes a breakdown, and the only people who know are the ones who tested it. Ask them, and send the second sample. An unread sample isn't a negative result; it's no result.
What a result can't tell you
- When you got it. A result is a snapshot, not a timeline. It cannot date an infection, and it cannot tell you which partner.
- Whether a partner has it. They need their own test.
- Whether you'll get it again. Treatment clears an infection; it isn't immunity.
People do a lot of painful arithmetic with dates after a positive result. It rarely produces an answer, and the clinic will tell you the same thing.
Who else sees your result
Different services keep records differently, and it's a fair thing to want to know before you test rather than after. We've set out what each service publishes about its own records on a separate page: confidentiality and your records.
If you'd rather talk to someone
The HSE runs a freephone sexual health helpline: 1800 700 700. Monday to Friday 8am–8pm, Saturday 9am–5pm. Closed Sundays and bank holidays.
Number and hours per the HSE's sexual health page, checked 10 September 2026.
Where to next
You order directly from SH:24, which runs this service with the HSE. Free if you're 17 or over and live in the Republic of Ireland. Living in Northern Ireland?
Sources and limits
- SH:24 — Your results (3–4 days for samples to arrive, up to 72 hours to test and send; results by text or in your account; contact them after seven working days; a reactive HIV result leads to a second blood sample taken in a clinic; free chlamydia treatment)
- HSE — Sexually transmitted infections (treatment is offered if you test positive, and depends on the infection; telling partners; abstaining until treatment is complete)
- HSE — Sexual health (the free home testing service and the helpline)
Checked 10 September 2026. This page has not been reviewed by a named clinician and doesn’t claim to have been. It explains what the services publish about their own results process. We don’t receive, hold or interpret anyone’s results — we’re not a clinic. If your result worries you, the service that tested you is the one to ring.