Private Blood Test for Enfield – No Referral, Sample Taken in London N13

Why Enfield patients come to us for a private blood test

Blood testing is the corner of private healthcare where people most often get a surprise on the bill, so the clinic keeps the money plain. The fee for having your sample taken is £45, and it is published here rather than quoted after the event. The cost of the profile the laboratory runs is a separate figure, and the team confirm it with you on the telephone before anything at all is arranged.

There is no referral letter to chase, because self-referral is accepted, and no need to travel into central London for something this routine. The clinic is open at the weekend as well as through the week, which matters if you would rather not lose a working morning to something this brief. This is what the clinic publishes for blood work, with its fee and the time set aside for it:

The £45 fee covers taking the sample. Which profile the laboratory runs, and what it costs, depends on what has been requested for you, and the team confirm that figure with you when they ring back — there is no profile price list to work from here. That single fee is what our blood tests page publishes. If you are not sure what has been asked for, get in touch and the team will talk it through with you, or book a private GP appointment if you would rather someone took a history first and decided with you. We cannot tell you over the telephone which test you need, and we will say so rather than guess.

How a blood test at the clinic actually works

Phlebotomy is one of the most ordinary things done in medicine, and there is very little to it from where you sit. A tourniquet is put round your upper arm to make a vein easier to find, the skin is cleaned, and a fine needle draws the sample into one or more small tubes. Most people describe a scratch and then nothing much. Bruising afterwards is the commonest thing to happen and it settles on its own.

Here is the order of the appointment:

1. You register at reception and are shown through; bring photo identification and any request form your doctor has given you.
2. The phlebotomist checks who you are, which profile has been requested, and whether you have been asked to fast or to hold a medicine.
3. The sample is drawn, normally from a vein in the crook of your elbow, into the tubes that profile requires.
4. The tubes are labelled in front of you and the puncture site is covered with cotton wool and tape.
5. Your sample goes to the laboratory, and the results come back to the clinic to be checked before they reach you.

Tell us before we start if you have ever fainted at a blood test, if one arm is easier than the other, or if you are on a blood thinner — none of it is unusual and all of it changes how the phlebotomist works. You can lie down instead of sitting if that helps. Booking for a child? Tell us their age when you ring. A patient under 16 must be brought by a parent or someone with parental responsibility, who consents to the test with them, and some examinations are not suitable for children — the team will say plainly if yours is not one we can do, and there is more about younger patients on paediatric care. If you would like to read the whole visit through first, what to expect on the day walks through arriving, registering and leaving.

Fasting, water and medicines: how to prepare

Most blood tests need no preparation at all. Some profiles do ask you not to eat for a set number of hours beforehand, and if the doctor requesting the test has given you instructions, follow theirs rather than anything you read on a website. If fasting has been asked for, an early appointment is kinder than an afternoon one, and the team will try to give you the first slot of the day.

A few practical things that make the appointment easier:

• Drink water unless you have been told otherwise — being well hydrated makes a vein much easier to find.
• Wear short sleeves, or something that rolls up above the elbow without cutting in.
• Do not stop or delay a prescribed medicine to prepare for a blood test unless the doctor who prescribed it has told you to.
• Bring your request form if you have one; it tells us precisely which tubes to fill.
• Eat normally afterwards, and bring something to eat with you if you have had to fast.

When the team ring you back to confirm your appointment they will tell you exactly what your profile needs, so nothing has to be worked out from a leaflet. If you are unwell on the day, or have started an antibiotic since the test was requested, say so — it can be worth moving the appointment rather than testing at a moment that will not represent you.

How long does it take, and when do the results come?

The appointment itself is a quarter of an hour, and the draw inside it usually a minute or two, so the visit is short whichever profile has been requested. Waiting for the result is the part that varies. Reports the clinic writes itself are normally e-mailed to you as a PDF within one working day of your appointment, and with your consent a copy goes to your GP or consultant — for a weekend appointment that copy can take up to 48 hours. Blood work does not sit neatly inside that, because the laboratory has to run the profile first and different profiles take different lengths of time. Rather than promise a turnaround here that yours may not match, we tell you at the appointment when to expect it.

It is worth knowing before you open the e-mail that slightly out-of-range results are common and usually have an ordinary explanation. Reference ranges are built so that a proportion of perfectly well people fall outside them, and a single reading taken on one morning is a snapshot rather than a verdict. What turns a result into a decision is a doctor reading it next to your symptoms, your medicines and the rest of your history, which is exactly why the report is written for you to take to one.

There is more on how your results reach you, and every fee the clinic publishes is on the price list. If your results have not arrived by the time you were told to expect them, ring the clinic on 020 8920 3129 and ask — chasing it is quicker than waiting, and we would rather you did.

Coming in early from Enfield, and fasting before you travel

Your appointment is at the London Diagnostic Centre, at the rear of Grovelands Medical Centre, 1 Grovelands Rd, London N13 4RJ. Grovelands Road runs between Aldermans Hill and Fox Lane, a short walk west of Green Lanes and the Palmers Green Triangle. That is Palmers Green rather than Enfield Town, a few miles south of it, so allow for the journey down: from Enfield Town the A105 runs through Bush Hill Park and Winchmore Hill and brings you straight into Palmers Green.

If your profile asks you to fast, the journey is worth planning rather than squeezing in. Ask for one of the first appointments of the day when the team ring back, travel with water rather than breakfast, and bring something to eat for the way home. Palmers Green station is on Aldermans Hill, a few minutes' walk from the clinic, and Grange Park, Winchmore Hill and Enfield Chase are on the same line, so an early train south saves you the morning traffic. Coming from Enfield, Oakwood and Southgate are the handiest Piccadilly stations; Arnos Grove is marginally the closest to the clinic itself. The map on this page shows the area we serve rather than the clinic itself; the address in the panel at the top of the page is where to come.

People come to us for blood work from across the borough and the districts either side of it:

• Enfield Town, Bush Hill Park and Grange Park (EN1, EN2 and N21)
• Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green, the two districts nearest the clinic
• Southgate and Oakwood on the Piccadilly line
• Edmonton and the Hertford Road side of the borough (N9 and N18)

Ask the team about parking and where the entrance is when they ring to confirm — the clinic is behind the medical centre rather than on the front of it, which is worth knowing before you arrive. If you use a wheelchair, have trouble with steps, or need an interpreter or someone with you, say so when the team ring back and they will tell you exactly what the building can and cannot do and arrange what is needed. If you are claiming on a policy, read paying with insurance first, and the general FAQs cover the rest.