Scotland: sexual health, safety and how reporting works here

Scotland does a few things differently from the rest of the UK, and three of them matter if you're dating casually: fraud goes to Police Scotland rather than Report Fraud, sexual offences sit under Scottish law, and help after an assault starts with a single NHS self-referral number. Sexual health services are free and confidential, and you don't need your GP to refer you. Details checked on 18 October 2026.

What's different in Scotland?

Health, policing and the law on sex and consent are all devolved, so the names, numbers and statutes here aren't the ones you'll read on English websites. This is the quick comparison.

Our Wales page and the national safety and consent page cover the rest of the UK.

Clinics in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Glasgow's service is Sandyford and Edinburgh's main clinic is the Chalmers Centre; both are free and you book them yourself.

Sandyford is NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's sexual health service, with its headquarters at Charing Cross in Glasgow and clinics across the health board area. NHS GGC says the best way to book most services is online at sandyford.scot; for anything that can't be booked online, call 0141 211 8130, Monday to Friday, 8.45am to 4pm. The same number handles emergency contraception during opening hours.

What a Sandyford visit looks like, according to the service:

1. Check the address and postcode when you book and again in your confirmation text, because some Sandyford clinics use a different entrance from the main building.
2. Arrive about 10 minutes early. Reception gives you a numbered card, an information pack and a short registration form.
3. You can ask for a clinician of a particular gender when you book, though it can't always be arranged.
4. Results come through an automated line, 0141 211 8694, using the clinic (NaSH) number on your card.

Edinburgh and the Lothians: NHS Lothian's main clinic is the Chalmers Sexual Health Centre, 2A Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9ES. Book online at lothiansexualhealth.scot or call 0131 536 1070. If you have no symptoms, NHS Lothian offers face-to-face "No Talk Testing" at Chalmers and at Howden Health Centre in Livingston. When we checked, NHS Lothian said it couldn't offer home sampling kits because of ongoing technical problems, so clinic testing is the route for now.

Elsewhere, every health board runs its own sexual health service: search your board's name with "sexual health", or use the NHS inform service directory.

Home testing: arriving board by board

NHS Scotland's free home testing is ordered through NHS inform, but it isn't yet available in every health board. Where it is:

• you describe your body and your partners so the right kit is sent, then give your postcode and mobile number; you can add free condoms to the order;
• kits test for chlamydia and gonorrhoea (swab or urine) and HIV and syphilis (finger-prick blood);
• you can order one kit every three months, and a limited number are released each day, so if they've gone, try the next morning;
• it's for people aged 16 and over without symptoms; results usually arrive in 7 to 14 days, and if anything is positive a health adviser normally contacts you to arrange treatment at your local clinic.

NHS inform advises some people to use a clinic rather than a kit, including some gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. On timing, it suggests a test once a year if you're sexually active, every six months if you change partners, and around every three months for some higher-risk groups. The free STI testing guide explains what each test involves.

Time-critical help

Two things can't wait for a routine appointment: HIV PEP and emergency contraception.

• HIV PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis, a course of HIV medicine taken after a possible exposure) has to be started within 72 hours, and the sooner the better. Contact your sexual health service straight away, or A&E if it's closed.
• Emergency contraception is free from community pharmacies in Scotland: NHS inform says you can ask to speak to the pharmacist, usually without an appointment. Pharmacists can also give a short supply of the progestogen-only pill as bridging contraception to people aged 13 to 55. In Glasgow, Sandyford's 0141 211 8130 line also deals with emergency contraception during opening hours.
• Out of hours, NHS 24 on 111 gives urgent health advice across Scotland.

The sexual health hub explains how both work.

After a sexual assault: self-referral

If you're 16 or over and were assaulted in the last seven days, you can self-refer for NHS care and a forensic medical examination by calling 0800 148 88 88, free, 24 hours a day. You'll speak to a specially trained healthcare professional. You don't need to tell the police or have a GP refer you: the NHS service is confidential, and the police won't know unless you decide to tell them. Forensic evidence is stored securely for 26 months, so you can decide later whether to report.

Rape Crisis Scotland supports people of all genders aged 13 and over who live in Scotland and have been affected by sexual violence, and their friends and family too. Its helpline is 08088 01 03 02, every day from 5pm to midnight, and calls don't show on your bill. You can also text 07537 410 027, use webchat on its website or email; free interpreters, including British Sign Language, can be arranged.

In an emergency call 999; if you can't speak, press 55.

Consent and image laws in Scotland

Scots law defines consent as "free agreement", and says it can be withdrawn at any time, including during sex.

The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 says there's no free agreement where someone is incapable because of alcohol or another substance, and that a person can't consent while asleep or unconscious. Agreeing to sex with a condom isn't agreeing to sex without one: in December 2024 the Crown Office secured Scotland's first rape conviction for "stealthing", where a man removed a condom without his partner's consent. Separately, disclosing or threatening to disclose an intimate photo or film of someone to cause fear, alarm or distress is an offence under the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016.

The consent guide goes through what that means on a night out, and how to check in without killing the mood.

Reporting a dating scam in Scotland

If you've sent money or bank details, call your bank first, then report to Police Scotland, not Report Fraud.

1. Stop paying and stop replying. Police Scotland's advice is to refuse to pay, cut off contact and keep any evidence you can.
2. Call your bank. Dialling 159 reaches most UK banks on a number that can't be spoofed.
3. Report to Police Scotland on 101, through its online form or in person; call 999 if you're in danger.
4. Report the profile through the members help centre with the username.
5. Threats to share images: don't pay. Report to Police Scotland on 101 and keep screenshots.

Police Scotland's warning signs are worth knowing: a profile that looks perfect "because it's designed that way", a sudden crisis that needs money urgently and secretly, pressure to move to another app, and webcam blackmail. Some scammers also ask you to pass money on for them, which can make you a money mule. The fake profiles guide covers the patterns, and how to report a scam lists what to have ready.

Before meeting anyone, from a bar on Sauchiehall Street to a village pub in the Borders, five minutes with the meeting safely checklist is time well spent.