Waldron Health Centre extends walk-in sexual health hours

In 2025 Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust has shifted more day-to-day sexual health care into the community by using the Waldron Health Centre in New Cross as a longer-hours walk-in base for testing, treatment and contraception, so local residents can be seen closer to home instead of relying on hospital clinics or scarce pre-booked slots.

The trust describes a network of free and confidential sexual health services across four sites in the boroughs of Lewisham and Greenwich, with two Lewisham locations now running open-access clinics at the Waldron Health Centre and the Primary Care Centre on Hawstead Road under a single service.

At Waldron, the clinic timetable adds up to about forty three hours of face-to-face time each week, with doors open from 10am to 7pm on most weekdays, a midweek afternoon start on Wednesdays and a Saturday session from 9.30am to 2pm opposite New Cross station, alongside step-free access, a disabled toilet, wheelchair access, cycle stands and on-site parking for people who cannot easily travel further across the city.

A recent job description for an integrated sexual health clinical fellow sets the scale of demand at roughly twenty four thousand attendances each year across the two Lewisham clinics, within a national system where sexual health services in England delivered about 4.6 million consultations in 2023 and attendance rates for women under twenty five rose from 84.2 to 103.0 per thousand between 2022 and 2023, with men under twenty five rising from 12.6 to 14.2 per thousand over the same period, according to government statistical commentary.

The walk-in model at Waldron uses a first-come slot system so that people can book in, leave and return later the same day rather than waiting for long periods in reception, while a limited pool of online appointments and telephone-booked Saturday clinics is meant to balance digital access with the needs of residents who are more comfortable turning up in person.

For young adults registered with nearby practices on Amersham Vale, including students and those with emerging mental health needs, the physical clustering of services around the health centre and youth clinic means sexual health care, psychological support and primary care are reachable within a few minutes’ walk, reducing travel time and making it easier for people without a car or reliable internet to keep on top of tests, treatment and contraception.

Local documents also show that Lewisham’s council-funded online sexual and reproductive health service cost just over £1.06 million in 2024–25, a reminder that the refreshed walk-in clinics at Waldron and Hawstead Road are now working alongside home testing and e-services rather than replacing them, with the combined offer intended to spread care between digital and in-person channels for residents with very different routines, incomes and housing conditions.

20 November 2025 11:29 By London Health News Desk