Private Ultrasound Scans for N14 – Booked Direct from Southgate Circus

Booking from Southgate: what the £180 covers

One fee covers the scan, the appointment time booked for it, and the written report that follows: £180. Scans of muscle, tendon and joint are priced per area at £180 each, so if a second area needs looking at, you hear that cost before anybody scans it. The full range of ultrasound scans has its own page on this site; the list here is what can be booked straight from Southgate, each entry showing its fee and the length of appointment set aside for it.

These are the scans available, with the price and the booked time beside each one:

Not certain which scan answers your question? Ask the team before booking — five minutes on the telephone is cheaper than the wrong scan. If you would rather somebody examined you before anything is imaged, there are private GP appointments here too. If you are a GP or consultant sending a patient, refer a patient sets out what we need. 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. There is more about younger patients under paediatric care.

What happens in the scanning room

An ultrasound scan bounces high-frequency sound off the tissue inside you and turns the echoes into a moving picture. No ionising radiation is involved at any point, so no dose is given and nothing builds up between scans. Most people find the whole thing uneventful; over an area that already hurts, the pressure of the probe can be briefly uncomfortable, and the sonographer eases off the moment you say so.

Please note that the clinic does not carry out pregnancy scans of any kind. If you are pregnant, or think you might be, tell us when you book, because it can affect whether a test is suitable for you.

Here is the order of events once the door closes:

1. You settle on the couch, uncovering only the area to be examined.
2. Water-based gel goes on first so nothing blocks the sound waves.
3. The sonographer passes a small handheld transducer over the area.
4. Live images run on the monitor and are saved for reporting.

There is no sedation, so eating, driving and the rest of your day carry on as normal afterwards. One or two scans need a little groundwork first — nothing to eat for a few hours, or a full bladder on arrival — and the team say which applies to yours on the confirmation call. Certain pelvic scans see more from inside, using a slim, tube-shaped probe; that is explained beforehand and goes ahead only if you agree to it. If you would like a chaperone for an internal scan, ask when the team ring you back and they will confirm whether one is available for the time you want; you are welcome to bring someone in with you as well.

How long it takes, and when the report reaches you

An ultrasound appointment is booked at 20 to 25 minutes. That is time held for you rather than an average somebody has quoted, and it covers arriving, the scan, and the questions you want to put to the person who has just done it. Each individual scan carries its own booked length, printed beside its fee in the list above.

The report is written up afterwards and normally reaches you by e-mail, as a PDF, within one working day. With your consent a copy goes to your GP or consultant as well; after a Saturday or Sunday appointment, that copy can take up to 48 hours. The sonographer will often describe what is on the screen while you are still in the room, but the report is the document your own doctor acts on.

How your results reach you sets out what arrives and in what form, and it is worth reading before you travel down.

Southgate, Oakwood, Cockfosters and the streets between them

Sharing a boundary with N14 is the practical advantage here: a scan can be fitted into a weekday gap, or taken on a Sunday morning, without half a day disappearing into the journey. People come down Chase Side from Southgate Circus, in from Oakwood and Cockfosters at the top of the A111, and across from Arnos Grove and New Southgate on the other side.

The areas patients most often travel in from:

• Southgate Circus, Chase Side and the roads either side of the High Street
• Oakwood and Cockfosters, north up the A111 and Bramley Road
• Arnos Grove, the next Piccadilly stop south, and New Southgate beyond it
• Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green, on the N13 side of the boundary

Wherever you set off from, the figure is the same £180 and the appointment length is the one published beside the scan. The clinic opens Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and from 8am to 8pm on Saturday and Sunday, so an appointment can sit outside a working day when that is easier. Same or next-day appointments are often available.

Getting to the clinic from Southgate Circus

The address to come to is 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. Driving, it is the A111 nearly the whole way from Southgate Circus — The Bourne, then Bourne Hill — and Fox Lane turns off Bourne Hill, with Grovelands Road off Fox Lane. By bus, the W6 and the 121 both run down from Southgate towards Palmers Green; the 121 is also the route that reaches Oakwood and Enfield, while the W6 does not go that far north. Palmers Green station is on Aldermans Hill, a few minutes' walk from the door.

So there are four straightforward ways down from N14:

• By car: the A111 from Southgate Circus, then Fox Lane and Grovelands Road
• By bus: the W6 or the 121, down from Southgate towards Palmers Green
• By tube: Southgate on the Piccadilly line, with Arnos Grove the next stop south
• On foot from Palmers Green station on Aldermans Hill, a few minutes away

Parking and the way in are both worth raising on the call-back, because the clinic sits behind the medical centre rather than on the street front. 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. Beforehand you can read what to expect on the day, or look through the published fees on the price list.