Private Blood Tests in London — Pathology by The Doctor's Laboratory (TDL)

Yes, with notice. Cancel or reschedule a Hampstead Heath pharmacy appointment free of charge with 24 or more hours' notice — your £25 deposit is refunded in full or held as credit. Cancellations within 24 hours, or no-shows, forfeit the deposit. Home visits require at least 48 hours' notice for the deposit to be refundable.

For home visits specifically, the call-out fee may be partially or fully non-refundable depending on whether the visit has already been arranged with the clinician.

To cancel or reschedule, email info@hhpharmacy.co.uk or call us during opening hours.

Two main differences: sample method and end-to-end handling.

Popular at-home test kits use capillary blood — a few drops squeezed from a fingertip into a small tube and posted to a lab. We use a venous draw — a small tube of blood from a vein in your arm, taken in person by a qualified clinician.

The venous sample is larger (5–10 ml versus a few drops), cleaner (no tissue-fluid contamination from squeezing the finger), and compatible with the full range of tests in our directory — including full blood count, hormones at clinically validated dilutions, and coagulation panels that don't reliably run on capillary samples. It's also handed directly to TDL within hours, rather than spending days in the post.

Finger-prick has legitimate uses (HbA1c self-monitoring, point-of-care INR, diabetes management at home), but for comprehensive private blood testing where the data needs to map cleanly onto the reference ranges your GP and specialists work with, venous is the clinical standard.

More on this above — Why venous? A bigger sample, a fuller picture →

No — you can book any of our tests yourself, no referral required. All 70+ panels and standalone tests on this page are self-bookable. If you have a referral letter or specialist's note, bring it with you so we can match the exact tests requested when ordering.

That said: while you don't need a referral to book, you may benefit from one to interpret your results. We don't provide clinical interpretation. If you're booking on your own initiative, consider whether you have a doctor or specialist who can review the numbers in context of your health history.

Yes — same-day and next-day appointments at our Hampstead Heath pharmacy in NW3 are frequently available, depending on weekday and time. The booking system on this page shows live slot availability. Same-day appointments are most common Monday to Friday at off-peak times.

The TDL Wimpole Street walk-in route can also be same-day if your request form has been issued in advance — typically allow 24 to 48 hours from your initial email for the form to be ready. Home visits require longer notice, usually at least 24 to 48 hours minimum, since the clinician's travel time has to be scheduled.

A note on speed: same-day results are rare for routine panels — TDL typically processes samples overnight, so most results return the next working day even if your appointment was same-day.

Most routine panels return within 1–2 working days from when TDL receives your sample. That covers lipids, glucose, hormones, vitamins, full blood count, and most of the panels in our directory. More specialised tests — less common antibodies, specific hormone panels, allergy IgE testing — can take 3–7 working days.

We email you the PDF report as soon as TDL releases it. Your booking confirmation email lists the expected turnaround for the specific test(s) you've ordered, so you'll know what to expect from the moment you book.

Not automatically. Private blood tests booked through us sit outside NHS records, so your GP won't see them unless you choose to share. You have two options: forward the PDF yourself when we email it to you, or ask us to email a copy directly to your GP, with your consent, by providing your GP surgery's email address at the time of booking.

Either way, you control whether and how your private results integrate with your NHS care.

Yes — we test children aged 12 and over. At our Hampstead Heath pharmacy in NW3, blood tests are bookable for ages 12 and over. Home visits also have a 12+ age limit, since the clinician's training and equipment are the same as the pharmacy. For under-12s, the route is TDL Wimpole Street walk-in, which accepts all ages (except Sundays, which are over-14s only).

The 12+ age limit at the pharmacy and on home visits reflects practical considerations — paediatric venepuncture is a specialist discipline, and our clinical setup is designed for adult and teenage patients. TDL Wimpole Street has appropriate paediatric provision for younger children.

Email info@hhpharmacy.co.uk if you're unsure which fits your child's situation.

We don't interpret your results — that's your doctor's role. TDL flags out-of-range markers clearly in your report so they're easy to identify. If anything in your report concerns you, please discuss it with your GP or whichever clinician requested or guided the test.

For findings the lab considers urgent (uncommon for routine private testing, but possible), seek medical advice promptly rather than wait. If you don't have a regular GP, NHS 111 or your insurance plan can point you toward options. We can also send your report to a doctor of your choice if that's helpful — just ask at booking.

Six steps. Email us with the test(s) you want, we e-invoice you (test cost plus £65 TDL blood-draw charge), once paid we email you a TDL request form, you walk into TDL at 76 Wimpole Street, London W1G 9RT with the form, TDL takes your sample on-site, and we email your results as a PDF when ready.

Full process:

1. Email info@hhpharmacy.co.uk with the test(s) you want
2. We e-invoice you for the test cost plus £65
3. Once payment clears, we email you a TDL request form
4. Walk into TDL at 76 Wimpole Street during opening hours: Mon–Fri 7am–7pm, Sat 7am–1pm, Sun 8–11am (Sundays over-14s only)
5. TDL takes your sample and processes it on-site
6. We email your results as a PDF when ready

Important: TDL can only draw what's on the form — no on-the-day add-ons. Make sure all the tests you want are listed in your initial email.

The £65 is TDL's own blood-draw charge — their phlebotomy team performs the venepuncture at their Wimpole Street centre, and that's their fee for doing so. It is not a form fee or a markup from us. We charge nothing extra for issuing the request form.

The same logic applies to home visits, where the higher cost (from £100 call-out fee) reflects the clinician's travel and time for coming to your London location.

Both are comprehensive blood panels — the Optimum tier adds body composition analysis and a full cardiovascular health assessment on top of everything in the Profile.

The Profile includes core blood markers, sex-specific markers, a full hormone panel, and advanced cardiac markers (Lp(a), hsCRP). The Optimum is the Profile plus body composition analysis and cardiovascular workup — blood pressure, ECG, QRISK and QDiabetes risk scores.

Both are available in male and female versions (Well Man / Well Woman). For the full feature-by-feature breakdown, see the Compare tiers section above on this page.

Generally no, but it depends on your plan. Most major UK PMI providers (Bupa, AXA, Aviva, Vitality, WPA, and similar) require a GP referral plus pre-authorisation before testing — self-arranged blood tests typically aren't covered under standard outpatient diagnostic claims.

We can issue an itemised receipt with test names, lab name (TDL), dates, and prices, which some plans will accept retrospectively. Check with your insurer before booking — they can confirm what's covered for your specific policy.

We accept all major debit and credit cards (Visa, Mastercard), contactless and mobile payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay), and cash. We do not accept American Express.

Online booking through our Semble system handles card payments — the £25 deposit is taken at the time of booking, with the balance paid when you attend. In-pharmacy, you can pay by card, mobile payment, or cash.

No — we don't offer a repeat-test discount. The lab cost (TDL's processing fee) and clinical overhead are the same on every test, so we charge the same per test or panel regardless of whether it's your first time or a repeat.

The only standing discount is 20% off the GLP-1 Weight Loss Monitoring Profile for active patients of our Medical Weight Management Clinic. See the Patient discount section above on this page.

The NHS appropriately prioritises clinically-indicated testing — your GP orders tests when there's a clinical reason. Private testing serves complementary needs: preventive health screening, biomarker tracking over time, fertility or specialist hormone panels, allergy IgE testing, and tests that aren't routinely available on the NHS or that have long waiting lists.

Practical differences:

• Faster turnaround — 1-2 working days for routine panels, vs weeks for many NHS pathways
• Self-bookable — no GP gatekeeping, no need to justify the test clinically
• Broader test menu — private labs offer markers and panels that aren't in the standard NHS toolkit
• Detailed reports — with reference ranges and clearly flagged out-of-range markers

For interpretation of results, your GP remains the right person to discuss findings with — including private results.

Our Medical Weight Management Clinic at the same Hampstead Heath pharmacy can help. The programme uses GLP-1 medications (Wegovy, Mounjaro, Saxenda) with regular clinical reviews and bloodwork monitoring — medically supervised, with ongoing support throughout. Once you're a programme patient, you'll get 20% off the GLP-1 Weight Loss Monitoring Profile — the panel designed specifically to track the markers your prescriber will want to monitor while you're on a GLP-1 medication.

The Optimum tier specifically includes body composition and cardiovascular metrics (blood pressure, ECG, QRISK and QDiabetes scores) — results from those are common starting points for the conversation about whether weight management would benefit your overall health.

About the Medical Weight Management Clinic →