I just spotted this on social media. Vit D test is only £8 and for just a TSH test £10. I'll look into what else they offer that might be of use. With any luck they might expand it to include full thyroid function?
independent.co.uk/news/uk/n...
This seems to be the current full range. Ferritin only £8 too, no combo test yet...!
Hi Jaydee1507,
That's interesting...though I'm unsure what is a 'test cassette'?
It sounds a bit like you don't even send it off and a bit like the covid rapid testing thing?
Yes that's what sprung to my mind. So maybe some will be blood spot type tests or saliva?
Their description on the website is less than helpful. I might pop over to Tesco and grab a vit D test as I wouldnt mind knowing what mine is now.
Good plan though are they online only? Will they have them in-store too?
I've seen an in store photo on social media so yes in store.
Welp that was a fruitless mission and reminded me of why I don't usually shop in Tesco. Large store, only 3 manned check outs, cant find the free from sections as not labelled and poorly stocked with limited range. Anyway, not yet in my local store.
I have just bought a vit D one online will collect tomorrow and see how it is too 😀
The TSH one is worse than useless, I'm afraid. 
The Thyroid test is a rapid test that qualitatively detects the presence of TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) in whole blood specimens at the sensitivity of 5μlU/ml, utilising a combination of monoclonal antibodies to selectively detect elevated levels of TSH in whole blood.
Thyroid stimulating hormone (also known as thyrotropin, thyrotropic hormone, TSH, or hTSH for human TSH) is a pituitary hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to produce thyroxine (T4), and then triiodothyronine (T3) which stimulates the metabolism of almost every tissue in the body.
Testing of TSH levels in the blood is considered the best initial test for hypothyroidism. It is important to note, as stated by the Subclinical Thyroid Disease Consensus Panel, “there is no single level of TSH at which clinical action is always either indicated or contraindicated.” The higher the TSH, the more compelling is the rationale for treatment. It is important to consider the individual clinical context (e.g. pregnancy, lipid profile, ATPO antibodies).
newfoundland.io/tests/p/thy...
Why do I say this worse than useless?
Because someone with a TSH of 4.99 will think they are absolutely fine. Unlikely they will do another test in the foreseeable future (e.g. at least months).
And someone with 5.01 might well be excessively concerned.
And that person will want to do a "proper" test.
Such tests have been on sale through various outlets and with a range of bandings/manufacturers for a few years. Including from vets.
I am not convinced they should even be available. (Not that I want any restrictions on self-testing. But...)
Hedgeree A2C3
The vitamin ones might be handy as an interim thing between more expensive Medichecks etc. Depends how they give results and how accurate etc
Yes, the vitamin D test could be useful.
But the iron deficiency one is not, in my view, acceptable.
NORMAL: Two lines appear. Both T (test) and C (control) line appear. This result means that the ferritin concentration in blood is normal and that there is no potential iron deficiency.
newfoundland.io/tests/p/iro...
No possibility of highlighting iron overload. And no obvious advice about inflammation causing raised ferritin.
Ah thats not so good then at all. I wonder where they draw the line for normal too.
I decided not to go down that rabbit hole! 
😆
It's likely not going to be optimal in any case. Lets see what the vit D results look like.
Sorry slight side ways step....but do you have to stop supplementing vit D when you get vit D levels checked?
I don't. if you want to see what your supplementing is doing then keep going until day before test even.
Thanks Jaydee,
Just wasn't sure if it was necessary to stop. I'll continue supplementing.
I thought same and it led me to look at others tests available from other high street shops. All very misleading. You really have to look to see what some include and none I saw do ft3. It’s a real shame and trivialises what really can be an invisible disability.
Certainly is!
I suppose we need to appreciate having the option to get "proper" tests. But that is a pretty hollow given the cost.
I keep hoping something better/cheaper becomes available.
To be honest, you’d probably get better treatment from a vet so don’t make that such a disparaging addition to the comment. He’s not uncle Tom Cobbley! 😉
My dog definitely gets better treatment than me at the Vets. Gets seen usually within a day or two, given bone supplements and scans and all sort...tit bits for being good, free weighing & dietry advice etc....marvelous. .All in a wink & a drop of a hat. Mind you my bank balance notices it....& thank heavens for pet insurance. Though now my dog is nearly 12 it's shot up to £90 per month! Arggh! Might be true life insurance, lasting till end of life but at a price!
Who are the "Subclinical Thyroid Disease Consensus Panel"? Have I missed them in previous posts?
A very good point., I can't find them mentioned ANYWHERE.
If anyone has a spare minute or two, I suggest contacting the company!
For further information please contact the team at info@newfoundland.io
I cant fine them either....Maybe they're something to do with NICE? One of their many committees?nice.org.uk/about/what-we-d...
I did find this Helvella....is it lazy reporting?
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
I think it is likely to be 'lazy reporting'. But that reference is in the company's own explanation of the test.
In my view, any references to third parties should be 100% clear and unambiguous. Not leaving us to guess.
Appears to be American , mentioned vaguely in an article/report by American Endocrine Society reporting on 2002 study academic.oup.com/jcem/artic...
That doesn't exactly engender confidence in their words - nor in their products.
Thank you.
That does look like it. I would call it misrepresentation at best: it's not "The Subclinical Thyroid Disease Consensus Panel", it's "A Subclinical Thyroid Disease Consensus Panel" at a particular event. Claiming greater credentials than warranted.
Oh wow.....why oh why just aTSH test kit? U get that at a GP..... And will GPs be now sending us off to purchase one of them to save money & time....no need to see us unless the kit says so? More downgrading of proper health care.....
thanks for this, most interesting..I’ve always been curious about vit d and docs tend not to test for it
PeterPiper....sorry to hear your GP doesnt test. Mine does but only every 2 years. Thank goodness for online testing!!
I was surprised yesterday as I had to request NHS blood tests all of which were agreed! Without any....'you had that done 6/8/12 months ago so no we won't do that one'
GP did say that they don't usually do vitamin D testing but when I said I was supplementing, was post partial thyroidectomy and possible normocalcaemic hyperparathyroidism it was added on 🙂
Glad to hear you were listened to. Alleyluya!!
Yes it made a nice change. I always dread ringing my surgery. I'll try and get that GP again he's fairly new there.
Thanks for sharing that Jaydee1507 looks like a really useful service
I spotted these tests in my local pharmacy. Around the £50 mark.
That's expensive for only TSH & T4. Monitor my health charge just over £26 for TSH, FT4 AND FT3.
Am wondering if we will see pharmacies getting into selling a package of blood draw and a range of lab tests.
That is, you pay for the lab test, they do the draw and send it off. You get results just like existing online lab services.
Many have problems with getting their blood drawn. And not all find finger-prick blood easy to do.
The pharmacy might find they can collect several each day and send them off together - spreading the transport to lab cost over a few patients.
Tesco have done really well with their publicity coverage on this. Just saw a segment on Morning Live about it.
Superdrug in large towns/cities already do blood draws for Medichecks. It's only one step away really.
I am one that struggle with finger prick checks due to poor blood supply. That set me back several years progress a few years ago. I won't forget that!
This would be extremely useful for many people, particularly if the range of tests available were to be expanded, but most probably not financially viable for most high-street pharmacies due to the cost of employing a qualified phlebotomist. As for pharmacies on the same site as NHS health centres, I would assume that there could well be a conflict of interests.
I've long thought there is room for a high street phlebotomy service. But taking on the overheads of suitable premises would probably kill it as a commercial proposition.
I can, though, imagine a local phlebotomist practising from the little room at the back of an existing pharmacy. Possibly on the basis that they pay some sort of rent, or the margin on sales of lab tests by the pharmacy covering that.
Obviously needs to be properly set up - and needs to make sure there is cover for sickness, holidays, etc.
Yes totally agree.
I've recently given up trying to do fingerprick tests. Blood flow is fine just the trauma of actually stabbing myself is too much for me to get over. Any successful ones I did took two days to recover from the emotional trauma and bruised fingers for a week 🤣 It wore me out.
So my recent commitment to my wellness resulted in booking a blood draw via Medichecks. A local pharmacist did the blood draw in a side room at his chemists.
I thought I would be in the minority but he said he gets many people using him for blood draw after failed fingerprick tests.
I'll be going direct to him for any future bloods.
I've had mine done At Superdrug, but they have some sort of arrangement with private doctor. Booked online, proper blood draw, but had to post them myself in the priority parcel box in the retail park. Can't remember whther they sent results to me or doctor
also , I am not so convinced finger prick is so accurate anyway, just my 2 cents
We have some members who have found finger-prick tests have been almost perfectly aligned with NHS lab results. And others not!
However, we quite often see members who did not get the result of a folate test when using finger-prick postal services. It seems this test is particularly sensitive to issues of actual draw, storage, etc.
All sounds a bit ‘Mickey Mouse’ to me like Supermarket multi vitamins 😱 And yes helvella totally agree- TSH is truly useless.
Trouble is, lots of people will use them because they are cheap. They won’t realise they are very limited- the best you could say is that it could be a pre test before getting them done properly by NHS (if they will do them) or certified labs. And then people won’t have the benefit of help to interpret by this wonderful forum.
I suspect that, if challenged, they would say these cheap tests are not meant for those with known thyroid (or other) issues.
But they end up as a just an extra cost in many cases. Do one of these, then do a "proper" test because the cheapie doesn't really do anything useful (at least, for TSH).
Easy to say if you can afford it, but it ends up cheaper to do just a "proper" test.
absolutely- it’s really a shame they can’t be stopped- I expect they have put numerous disclaimers on the packaging to cover themselves.
I had a quick browse at the supermarket vitamins last night. Not impressed!
yes once the guys in here educated me I couldn’t unknow - I’m very sceptical of anything health related sold by a supermarket - They are mercenaries. Morrisons have recently changed their recipe for baked beans, and they’ve got new recipe emblazoned across the cans.
They have omitted several ingredients to do with flavour, reduced the bean content and the tomato content and I’ve posted to friends. ‘Yes, please note NOT a New and Improved recipe!’ 😱😂
Because we run a hospitality business, things like this are important to us. We had to hot trot to Sainsburys 🤣
Mmm Tesco getting involved with our health data. What could possibly go wrong? Wonder if they’ll add our blood type and test results to our club cards so they can monitor what we buy and if it’s good for us or an act of self harm. Health insurance cos might pay well for all that data.
They are just selling the test kits which I believe are all 'at home' tests so noone else involved in personal data.
I suggest that there is a personal data issue - but rather subtle.
I assume these can go through a Tesco till - therefore appear within Clubcard history.
If someone uses a Tesco key fob (or similar - and is legitimate) then their purchases are visible to the account owner. (I have never registered but use what is effectively a shared account.)
Of course, this would usually be of little importance. But I can easily imagine situations in which buying health tests would be personal but the person simply doesn't think through that this is a possibility.
I wonder what the use by dates are like? Mind you I always buy for the whole family as I'm harvesting their details too! 😆
On 3 for 2 already? Need to know the use by date.
Yes, and if any good..... I'll wait for feedback from our guinea pig A2C3
Test all done, it’s a tiny finger prick, you need to fill the S bit to the top, then the liquid buffer in B. Apparently mine is excess but that just means over 100 no values given!x
Interpretation
I wonder what values they are placing on these results. Very interesting and at least in wonter you will be able to see if you need more D3. Not sure exactly how useful it will be.
Yeah I think I will stick to one’s where you get an actual value so then you know if you’re deficient and by how much you need to supplement! I don’t supplement but my vit D is always 90+ x
Excellent thanks, so about as we expected 🤗
Does it have a use by date?
Expiry and colour
The difference even bwteen 30-100 is quite a lot!
I know 😬😆
thanks for sharing this Jaydee it’s worth knowing 👍😀
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