Private Blood Tests?

Super Moo

I keep seeing adverts for private blood tests coming up on my Facebook feed.

Has anyone tried these?

I am wondering if it is easier to get one of these and if anything is flagged up to use this as a starting point with the Doctors, rather than trying to convince them there is an issue first.

Cheers

Neil

lambkin

I used MediChecks to get my iron levels tested once, since I couldn't get my local doctor to tell me what my ferritin level was. They send you a fingerprick kit in the post, you take the test then post it back and get the results in about a week or so. It cost about 100 pounds for the test I took, though the tests vary in price from about 40-200 quid.

The results are quite detailed so I would imagine you should be able to take them to a doctor to get further tests. I should mention the fingerprick capsules they send are pretty useless IMO. I couldn't get enough blood out, so had to contact them to send out a syringe to take a venous blood sample (which they did for free). Fortunately I had a nurse in the family.

It turned out my iron levels were fine, so I've never used them again since then.