What is a Blood Test?
A blood test is usually performed to check your health and/or to investigate the cause for certain symptoms. It involves having a small amount of your blood taken for testing, usually from your arm.
Blood tests aid in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of disease/health conditions.
Why Do I Need a Blood Test?
There are many reasons why you may need a blood test, for example:
- To check your general health;
- To find out if symptoms you are having are caused by a certain condition(s);
- To find out if you are more likely to get a condition(s); and/or
- To find out how well a condition(s) is being treated or managed.
What Blood Test Can I Get?
Blood tests can be used to test for a variety of conditions. There are too many to note them all here, however, examples include: Full blood count; Iron levels; Thyroid Function; Kidney Function; Blood Glucose; Calcium Test; and CRP (inflammatory marker).
Blood tests, in the private sector, are usually marketed in a different way to blood tests you might receive via the NHS. They are usually marketed separately for men and women, or as sports performance or wellness, for example:
- Women:
- Female health check.
- Female hormone test.
- Female fertility test.
- Thyroid test.
- Men:
- Male health check.
- Male hormone test.
- Male fertility test.
- Sports performance test.
- Unisex:
- Heart health test.
- Energy test.
- Nutrition test.
- Allergry test.
- Liver function test.
- Vitamin D test.
- Cholesterol test.
- Iron test.
Some tests, for example sports performance, may have different levels of test, which are usually based on the number of biomarkers tested. Simply put a biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition. Examples include cholesterol, triglycerides, testosterone, and red and white blood cell count.
How Do I Get a Blood Test?
Whether you are being treated in a primary care setting (e.g. GP practice) or a secondary care setting (e.g. hospital), a healthcare professional (e.g. doctor or nurse) may book a blood test if they believe you require one.
How Do I Prepare for a Blood Test?
Your healthcare professional may request that you fast (not eat or drink anything other than water) prior to the blood test. They may also request you stop taking certain medicines (e.g. anticoagulant medicines that help prevent blood clots).
What Happens during a Blood Test?
A blood test is usually performed in a GP practice or hospital setting, with the test taking approximately 10 minutes. A small amount of blood, usually from the inside of your elbow, using a needle will be taken; sometimes blood may be taken from your wrist or your finger (called a finger-prick test).
A soft strap (tourniquet) may be put around your arm first, as this helps to make taking blood easier. You will feel a scratch as the needle goes in, which may be a bit uncomfortable, and your blood will be collected in a small tube which will be sent to a lab for testing.
After the test, you will usually be given some cotton wool or a plaster to cover the area where the blood was taken. You may get some bruising or swelling around the area where your blood was taken, but this should go away after a few days.
What If I Am Worried About Needles?
Let the healthcare professional performing your blood test know if you are worried about needles. They can help you feel more comfortable during the test, and you can also bring someone with you to support you. Numbing cream can also be issued to apply before your test to make the test more comfortable.
Your Blood Test Results
You should get your blood test results after a few days. A private provider should be asking you if you want to share the test and results with the NHS (it should not be automatically shared).
When your results do arrive, your healthcare professional will talk to you about your results and explain what happens next. If your results do not show anything, you may not need to do anything else. Sometimes you may need other tests, depending on why you had the blood test or as a consequence of the blood test result. Ask your healthcare professional if you have questions about your results, or do not understand them.
How Much Does It Cost?
Prices vary between providers. You could pay from £8-69 for a simple vitamin test to £200-250 or more for a comprehensive package testing a large variety of biomarkers.
Why Not Just Use an ‘At Home’ Kit?
There are many retailers and manufacturers offering cheap, easy to use, at home blood test kits for consumers. However, if you do not know how to interpret the results or what they mean, you will still need to consult with a healthcare professional. Further, many at home kits only give you a semi-quantitative analytical result. This means that while it will give you a good indication of vitamin D in your blood, for example, you will need a secondary analytical test if you require your specific levels of vitamin D. In other words they are for screening purposes only.