There are estimated to be 26,000 people in the UK who are HIV positive but don’t yet know and that is worrying because the earlier HIV is diagnosed, the better the prognosis. This week the first legally approved HIV self testing kits hit our shelves in the UK. As a doctor I would always rather see someone in my clinic before testing for HIV as a positive result is such a monumental piece of information to receive, but if you really feel you cannot, for whatever reason see your GP, and would rather take a home test, these tests are said to be 99.7% accurate. If you should test positive, please do see your doctor straight away and remember it can take 3 months after exposure to the virus for any HIV test to show positive.