Private Ultrasound for Cheshunt — One Fixed Price, Seven Days a Week

Why Cheshunt patients make the trip to us

Cheshunt is in Hertfordshire and the clinic is in London, so the trip is a drive rather than a walk: down the A10 from M25 junction 25 at Waltham Cross, or the older Hertford Road corridor through Waltham Cross and Enfield when the main road is heavy. A drive deserves a straight answer about money before you set off. Every ultrasound scan the clinic offers is £180, whatever part of the body it looks at, with the appointment length published beside it. Musculoskeletal scans are charged per area, so a second area is £180 again and you hear that before it is carried out. There is no booking fee, nothing is taken online, and no consultation charge appears on top.

The other reason EN8 patients travel down is the diary: weekday appointments, and Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 8pm. Your images are read and written up by a clinician rather than handed over for you to interpret. These are the ultrasound scans the clinic is able to carry out:

The list above is what the clinic carries out. If you are not sure which of them answers your question, ask us — but if the test you need is not here, we will tell you so and say where it is done rather than book you in anyway. The clinic does not offer CT, MRI, or pregnancy scans of any kind. If you would rather somebody examined you before a scan is chosen, a private GP appointment is the sounder starting point, because nothing can be diagnosed down a telephone line. Every fee the clinic publishes sits on the price list, and if you are a GP or consultant sending a patient, refer a patient sets out what we need.

What happens during an ultrasound scan

An ultrasound scan builds a moving picture of the inside of your body from high-frequency sound waves rather than ionising radiation, so there is no dose to keep track of and nothing that adds up if you are scanned again. Most people find it straightforward. The probe can feel tender over an area that is already painful, and the sonographer will ease off if 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.

On the day it goes like this:

1. You lie on the couch and uncover only the part being looked at.
2. A clear water-based gel goes onto the skin, so air cannot block the sound waves.
3. The sonographer passes a small probe, called a transducer, back and forth over the area.
4. You see the same live pictures they do, and the ones that matter are stored for your report.

Some scans need a little preparation — an empty stomach for a few hours, or a comfortably full bladder — and the team tell you exactly what applies when they ring to confirm. There is no sedation and no recovery time, so you can drive back up the A10 straight afterwards. A few pelvic scans give a much clearer picture from a slim internal probe; if that is the case for you it is explained first, and nothing happens until you have agreed 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. 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. Paediatric care covers the rest.

How long does the appointment take?

Ultrasound appointments here are booked at around 20 to 25 minutes, and the exact length for each scan is published beside its price further down this page. That time covers arriving, the scan itself, and the questions you want to put to the sonographer before you leave. It is a real appointment slot rather than a gap between two other people.

Your scan is written up into a report, which is normally e-mailed to you as a PDF within one working day of your appointment. You receive a copy and, with your consent, we can send it to your GP or consultant — for a weekend appointment that copy can take up to 48 hours.

If you are making the journey from Cheshunt or Hoddesdon and would like more than one thing looked at on the same visit, say so when the team ring you back, so the diary can be arranged around it rather than asking you to drive down twice.

What going private actually gets you

Being seen sooner is only part of it, and it is worth being plain about what the fee buys. It buys a price you knew in advance, an appointment long enough for the sonographer to explain what they are seeing, and a written report your own doctor can act on.

• No referral letter to chase, because self-referral is accepted.
• One price per scan, published before you book, with musculoskeletal work charged per area.
• Your scan is carried out by a qualified sonographer and reported by a registered clinician.
• Weekend appointments from 8am to 8pm, as well as weekdays.
• A written report you keep, whatever the scan shows.

Same or next-day appointments are often available, though what we will not do is promise a date on a web page before the team have looked at the diary. A scan does not always settle the question on its own, and if it points towards a different test we will tell you that instead of booking another one.

Finding us from Cheshunt

Your appointment happens at the rear of Grovelands Medical Centre, 1 Grovelands Rd, London N13 4RJ, which is where the clinic entrance is. From Cheshunt the simplest route is the A10 Great Cambridge Road south, past M25 junction 25 and on through Enfield, then across to Green Lanes for Winchmore Hill and Palmers Green. The older road, the A1010 Hertford Road, begins at Waltham Cross just south of Cheshunt and runs the same way down through Enfield Highway if the A10 is heavy.

Cheshunt station sits on the West Anglia line between Waltham Cross and Broxbourne, but those trains take you into Liverpool Street rather than towards us, so most patients drive. If you would rather not, the 279 runs south from Waltham Cross, and the 121 crosses Enfield to Southgate and Palmers Green. The map on this page marks the area we cover rather than the building itself; the address printed at the top of the page is the one to drive to.

• Cheshunt and Waltham Cross in EN8, and Turnford in EN10
• Goffs Oak, Broxbourne and Hoddesdon
• Enfield, with Winchmore Hill and Southgate closer in

Ask about parking and about the entrance when the team ring you back — the clinic sits behind the medical centre, which is worth knowing before you pull up. 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. There is also a page on what happens at the appointment and one on how reports are sent out, and if a policy is covering the fee, start with paying with insurance.