Chlamydia Testing by SMS

NHS Hounslow, which is responsible for the health of more than 200,000 people living in west London, is writing to 19,000 youngsters in the borough to tell them about the service.

"We are not expecting that volume of people to respond and the texting service is not being automated," said a spokesperson for the trust. "Someone will be responsible for answering and receiving the texts."

Tracey Warrener, lead commissioner for sexual health at NHS Hounslow, said: "Once you get the postal kit you need to give a urine or swab sample, which is then sent to a laboratory.

After sending off your little envelope of chlamydia 'n' hope to a lab, you can opt to receive your potentially traumatic results via SMS, phone or letter (though Twitter, with its convenient-for-notifying-exes "@" system, might have been a better choice).