We provide a friendly, comprehensive service and world class care for those living with HIV.  

 If you are concerned you may have HIV, early symptoms of HIV or have been exposed to HIV, then we would be very happy to help you.  

Our service is open-access, which means you do not need to be referred to the clinic by a GP or other healthcare professional.   

We provide a confidential service where we will not notify your GP, partner, friends, or family without your permission.   

Free, confidential testing is offered at the ICDC, as well as advice, counselling, treatment, and ongoing monitoring (including blood tests) for anyone affected by HIV.  

We have several in-house specialists who look after a wide variety of related health conditions including kidney, heart, lung and/or metabolic issues and offer clinics to look after people with more than one infection (such as tuberculosis or hepatitis).   

We also have several dedicated services including:   

  • ageing and frailty  

  • women’s healthcare with gynaecological, contraception and menopause advice 

  • a HIV antenatal team 

  • a pharmacy service providing specialist advice on HIV and other drugs 

  • psychological and psychiatric support 

  • an inpatient unit where we look after people living with HIV who need to be in hospital 

  • weight loss service   

Sexual health services, provided by Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL), are also available for registered ICDC patients. 

Contact information

Tel: 020 3758 2029

For patients requiring an urgent review, call 020 3758 2029 and press the option for nurses. These patients can usually be seen within 48 hours (Monday to Friday).

For non-urgent medical queries,
email rf.icdcnurses@nhs.net. 

For all other non-urgent queries,
email rf.hivinfo@nhs.net.

You can refer yourself to our service if you would like an HIV test or if you are living with HIV and would like to access HIV care with us.

We also accept referrals from any healthcare professional.

Our emergency walk-in service is available:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 9am to 4pm.
  • First, second, and third Wednesday of each month: 10am to 4pm
  • Fourth Wednesday of each month: 1pm to 4pm

If possible, please call the ICDC nurses first on 020 3758 2029 (option 2).

They will be able to offer advice as to whether it might be better to see your GP, go to our emergency department, or book you in to see us. 

We can give short-term antiviral prescriptions, but may ask you to get other medication from your GP. 

For out of hours services, please call the nurses on 11 South ward for advice on 020 7830 2712 between 5pm and 9am every day, including bank holidays.

If you are worried about HIV or a recent exposure to HIV, you can get tested at ICDC. You do not need to make an appointment, you can simply walk in during clinic hours. The test involves a finger prick and the result is available in minutes.

If you are a registered ICDC patient, you can use our 'walk-in' service for blood tests and you will not need to make an appointment.

Blood tests are usually recommended every six months for most patients.

Sometimes we may need to monitor your blood test results more frequently — our team will let you know if this is the case.

If you are a registered ICDC patient, you are also able to use our sexual health service provided by CNWL. Visit our sexual health services page for more information. 

For routine asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening, self-sampling kits are available for ICDC-registered patients.

You might find more useful information and support on the following webpages:

Aidsmap
Body and Soul
Elton John AIDS Foundation
Metro Charity
National Aids trust
Positive East
Positively UK
Terence Higgins Trust

For updates on our services and other HIV related issues, you can follow us on X @ICDCRoyalFree.