Finger prick or extraction blood test?

[zowiebean]

Hi. Is having a private blood test by pricking finger as reliable as a full blood extraction by needle. Just wondering as I need to have another blood test soon and I normally get the private one done along with my NHS extraction, but would like to leave my Dr's out of it at the moment. test would probably be for T4, T3, TSH, Antibodies, Folate and Ferritin.

[jimh111]

I was doubtful about the thyroid finger prick tests because thyroid hormones are present in such small quantities. However, from what I've seen on the forum both tests give similar results so they do work. Just ensure the lab that does the tests is accredited.

On this subject a thought that crossed my mind earlier this week is that the NHS uses heel prick tests to rule out congenital hypothyroidism in newborn babies. I don't think it matters whether the spot of blood comes from the finger or the heel. It's worth bearing this in mind in case a doctor tries to reject a private blood test result.

[zowiebean in reply to jimh111]

Ahh thank you for the reply. I use medicheck or blue horizon normally.

[jimh111 in reply to zowiebean]

Blue Horizon uses bloodtestslondon for their thyroid blood tests. This is the lab used by NHS NW London and many other NHS areas.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to jimh111]

Blue Horizon also use County Pathology, all mine go there including one last month. A couple did go to The Doctor's Laboratory but that was a couple of years ago. My Medichecks tests also go to County Pathology.

[jimh111 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Oh, they used to be done by The Doctors Laboratory. I guess they look around for the best value. County Pathology are accredited according to their website. We should check that labs we use are accredited and presumably companies like Blue Horizon will use good labs so their reputation is kept.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

zowiebean

Also bear in mind that an NHS hospital lab in Exeter is offering fingerprick tests to the general public (MonitorMyHealth), so if they weren't reliable I don't think an NHS hospital would put it's name to it.

[zowiebean in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thankyou I will have a look into that.