A REVIEW OF THE FIRST 6 MONTHS OF A DIGITAL PARTNER NOTIFICATION SYSTEM

Introduction Effective partner notification (PN) is an essential public health intervention that helps diagnose asymptomatic infection, prevents re–infection and onward transmission. The rise in diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections within digital sexual health services means digital PN services are increasingly important, but remain relatively untested. A new digital PN service was launched in July 2021 for service users receiving postal chlamydia treatment. To order treatment users must complete a PN section that: - Explains why PN is important - Documents partners already notified - Offers to anonymously contact partners - Provides information on how to tell partners Data on contacts is deleted by the digital PN system after 72 hours and a message at 4 weeks asks index cases about partners tested/treated. Methods All records of individuals who had a chlamydia treatment dispatched between 15th July 2021 and 14th January 2022 were analysed anonymously. Results In six months 8,996 chlamydia treatments were dispatched to service users. Users had already notified 18,324 partners at the time of online treatment. 1,098 partners were notified through the anonymous digital PN system of which 301 were confirmed tested/treated (figure 1). Users reported trusting the digital PN system. Discussion Most people tell their partners about chlamydia infection themselves but anonymous, digital PN increases notifications by approximately 9%. Performance against the BASHH standard 4.3.3.b was 0.45 contacts/index case (figure 1) but underestimates performance partly because those anonymously notified through the digital system cannot be followed up. We aim to stimulate discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of digital, anonymous PN. Reference BASHH (2019) Standards for the Management of STIs. Available at: https://www.bashh.org/about-bashh/publications/standards-for-the-management-of-stis/. (Accessed 22 March 2022)