Private blood testing

[Jeremy72]

Hi all,

Hope you all had a good Christmas.

Can anyone who has used the finger prick blood test for T3 etc confirm that theses are reasonably accurate.

My daughter has posed this question to me.

Thank you.

[Hidden]

I use the Blue Horizon finger prick tests and I can confirm that they are accurate. I've compared mine to my NHS results.

[crimple]

I have used blue horizon several times now and have been very pleased with the speed of results and the now relatively low costs. The first time I had private blood tests was via Spire private hospital because I had venous blood draw and that was Blue horizon and very expensive. I recently had finger prick BH 8, which tests TSH, T4, T3, B12, ferritin, folate and both types of antibodies. The results came back within 5 days with a report highlighting areas of concern. My GP will only test TSH, a waste of time as far as I'm concerned.

I use city assays for Vit D test (about £28 and also finger prick) also very speedy turnround and have used Genova to check Iodine and Selenium. (that had to be venous blood draw and was expensive)

Thanks to help from people on this site I can interpret my results and make decisions about whether or not I bother with NHS! I feel it is grossly unfair on those who cannot afford private tests that the just have to keep on suffering because NHS won't help by doing appropriate tests.

[Jeremy72 in reply to crimple]

Thank you both.

[Jefner]

I had mine done same time as nhs and compared results....accurate!

[HarryE]

I use them all the time. There is no reason for them to be inaccurate, they are doing the same tests, just with a smaller amount of blood. All labs in the UK are accredited by the same organisation

[Bloodman]

I work in one of the labs used by BH and can confirm that they use CPA accredited labs and all use the same technology as you would find in the NHS. It is important to point out that the most reliable results will be obtained from a venous draw, but a well taken finger-prick test will be as good. Problems can occur with a finger-prick sample when it is a struggle to collect the sample.

[HarryE in reply to Bloodman]

Yes definitely - don't squeeze too hard or you will damage the cells. Luckily I bleed a lot!

[Hannah13 in reply to HarryE]

Whilst we are talking about BH finger prick tests can you tell me whether it is easy to get the blood from a finger prick? The guy I spoke to at BH said that you would need to get 16 - 18 drops of blood for the Thyroid 10 test. I am a bit concerned that I may struggle to get this amount and would appreciate any experiences from those of you who have done it. I don't want to spoil the test. Many thanks

[HarryE in reply to Hannah13]

I find it easy enough. You should be warm, well hydrated & preferably standing up. If you squeeze your finger too hard it will rupture the blood cells so try to massage rather than squeeze. I find my left ring finger best.

[Hannah13 in reply to HarryE]

Have you done the Thyroid 10 one where you need 16 - 18 drops? Thanks for your advice

[HarryE in reply to Hannah13]

No. I've never counted the drops. The ones I have done have a little tube with lines on the side. You can always do another stab if the first one stops bleeding

[Hannah13 in reply to HarryE]

Thankyou very much..dont like the idea of stabbing ! but I know what you mean

[HarryE in reply to Hannah13]

They are easy to use & don't hurt, honest!