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A full blood count measures your red cells, white cells and platelets. Here is what each part shows and what an abnormal result can mean.

Fasting matters for some blood tests and not for others. Here is how to tell the difference, how long to fast and what else can affect your results.

Most people in the UK should consider vitamin D in autumn and winter. Here is how much, who is at higher risk and when a test is worth doing.

For World Diabetes Day: an HbA1c of 42 to 47 is a warning sign, not a diagnosis. Here is what it means and what you can do about it.

Sneezing and a blocked nose that never really stop are rarely pollen. Here are the common year-round triggers, how to tell them apart and when testing helps.

For Movember: the blood tests most worth doing for men over 40, and when PSA and testosterone tests make sense.

Creatine supplements can make your kidney results look worse than they really are. Here is why, and what to do before a blood test.

Both tests look for the same allergy antibody, but they work differently. Here is how they compare, who each suits and what the results can and cannot tell you.

A new multi-cancer blood test has been tested in more than 140,000 people in England. Here is what the results showed, and what blood tests can and cannot tell you about cancer.

Weight-loss injections change appetite, eating and fluid balance quickly. Here is which blood tests help before and during treatment, and why.

A reference range is the interval covering most results from a healthy reference population - usually about 95% of it. That means roughly 1 in 20 healthy people fall outside any given range. A single flagged marker is common and often means nothing on its own. What a reference range is Reference ranges are built by measuring a marker in a large group of people considered healthy and taking the interval that covers the central portion of those results, conventionally around

CQC registration means a provider is regulated for the regulated activities it carries out, has a named accountable individual, and is subject to inspection. It is not a quality score, and it does not mean every test sold is clinically necessary. You can check any provider's registration on the CQC website. What the CQC regulates The Care Quality Commission regulates health and social care providers in England. Where a provider carries out regulated activities, it must be re

Most small employers need one of three things: proof of immunity for staff in healthcare or childcare settings, latent TB screening for certain roles, or periodic health surveillance tied to a specific workplace exposure. Which you need is set by your role risk assessment, not by a test menu. Start with the requirement, not the test Employers rarely need a broad health panel. What they usually need is documented evidence against a specific requirement - a role specification

Testosterone therapy requires a baseline before starting and ongoing monitoring afterwards. Monitoring is not only about whether testosterone is in range - it also tracks markers that therapy can affect, particularly red blood cell concentration. Related: low testosterone testing and what your results mean. Why test before starting? Because a diagnosis of low testosterone rests on more than one number. Testosterone follows a daily rhythm, so guidance is to sample in the mor

TSH is the standard first-line thyroid test and is often sufficient on its own. A fuller panel adding FT4, FT3 or thyroid antibodies is more useful when TSH is abnormal, when symptoms persist despite a normal TSH, or when you are monitoring known thyroid disease. What TSH actually measures Thyroid stimulating hormone is not made by the thyroid. It is made by the pituitary gland to tell the thyroid how much to produce. When thyroid hormone output falls, TSH rises to push har

Several hormones change predictably through the day or the menstrual cycle. A correctly performed test taken on the wrong day can be impossible to interpret. Booking the right date is often more important than choosing between panels. Book this test: Hormonal Health – £88. No GP referral, 46 UK clinics, results reviewed by a clinician. Why does timing change the result? Hormones are not steady. Some follow a daily rhythm driven by sleep and waking. Others rise and fall acro

Turnaround depends on the method, not the price. Automated analysers batch common markers and can report within a day. Tests needing cell culture, incubation, specialist equipment or a referral laboratory take longer, and no amount of urgency shortens the biology. What happens to your sample Your sample is labelled, kept in the right conditions, collected by courier, booked in at the laboratory, prepared for analysis, analysed, validated, and then released. Any one of those

Start with the question you want answered, not the test list. A broad profile is useful when you have no specific concern and want a baseline. A targeted test is better when you have one clear question, because a wide panel makes borderline findings more likely without making them more meaningful. Work backwards from your question People usually arrive at a test menu having already decided they want testing, but not what they want to know. Those are different things, and th

An advertised blood test price often covers the laboratory analysis only. The blood draw, the written report, any clinical consultation and any retest can each be charged separately. Ask what the total is before you book, not at the clinic. Why do two identical tests have different prices? Usually because they are not identical purchases. One price includes the sample collection and a report; the other is the laboratory fee with collection charged on top. Comparing headline

Most UK private testing companies do not own their collection sites. They book you into partner clinics inside pharmacies, department stores or shopping centres. What varies is whether you can walk in, what tests that site can take, and whether anyone there can answer a clinical question. Who actually takes your blood? When you book a private blood test, the company selling you the test and the person taking the sample are often two different organisations. Collection netwo