Terms of service

privatetests is a trading name of Health Intelligence Group Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 17153028. Our registered office is Holly Road Medical Centre, 2A Holly Road, Chiswick, London, W4 1NU. In these terms, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Health Intelligence Group Ltd.

You can reach us at support@privatetests.co.uk. For anything about your personal data, use privacy@privatetests.co.uk.

If you give us your email address to hear when we open or to get occasional updates, we will use it to send you those emails. You can unsubscribe from any email we send you, or at any time by emailing us. Signing up does not create an account, does not commit you to buying anything, and gives you no priority or reserved place unless we say so explicitly. We do not ask for medical information on that form and you should not send us any.

When ordering opens, we will arrange private laboratory testing of your blood or other samples at a UKAS-accredited laboratory working to ISO 15189, with every result reviewed, verified and released by a GMC-registered doctor.

Our service gives you health information. It is not a diagnosis, it is not a medical consultation, and it does not replace your own GP or any care you are already receiving. A result is prepared from your sample and the information you give us, without access to your full medical records, so it cannot rule a condition in or out on its own. You are responsible for reading your report, acting on it sensibly, and seeking medical care where the report or your own judgement suggests it. If you feel seriously unwell, call 999 or NHS 111. Do not wait for a test result.

You may order if you:

• are 18 or over; we check your date of birth when you order;
• live in the United Kingdom, and can collect and return your sample from a UK address;
• are ordering for your own personal, non-business use; and
• are using the service for health information, not to diagnose a medical condition.

Tests for children can only be booked through a family account by someone holding parental responsibility, and only as a clinic appointment at our Wimpole Street clinic. Home test kits are not available for children, and some sensitive test categories are not available for under-18s at all. Where a test is ordered for another person, that person must confirm their own details before a sample is processed, and results are released to the person the sample belongs to.

• Your order is an offer to buy. A contract is formed only when we confirm acceptance by email, which is when we dispatch your kit or confirm your clinic appointment. We may decline an order, and if we do you will not be charged.
• Prices are in pounds sterling and no VAT is added: doctor-reviewed diagnostic testing is a VAT-exempt medical service. The test price covers laboratory analysis and doctor review. The displayed single-test total includes the applicable collection charge: £5.99 postage for a home kit or a £55 clinic appointment. These charges are itemised in your basket and at checkout before you pay, and each applicable charge is applied once per order rather than once per test. The total shown at checkout is what you pay; nothing is added afterwards.
• Payment is taken securely by Stripe at the time of order. We do not store your card details.
• If a price is obviously wrong and you could reasonably have spotted it, we do not have to supply at that price. We will contact you to confirm or cancel before proceeding.

You have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of the contract being formed, without giving a reason. To cancel, just tell us: an email to support@privatetests.co.uk is enough, and sending it before the 14 days are up is enough even if it reaches us later. You can use the model cancellation form at the end of these terms, but you do not have to.

• Because testing takes time, we ask at checkout whether you want us to start straight away. If you say yes, you keep your right to cancel until the service is fully performed. Once your report has been released to you, the service is complete and the right to cancel is gone.
• If you cancel before your sample has been collected or your kit dispatched, you get a full refund.
• If you cancel after we have sent your kit but before we have received your sample, we refund what you paid less our reasonable cost of the kit, which we tell you at checkout. We cannot accept returned kits back into stock for health and safety reasons.
• We refund using the same payment method you used, without undue delay and within 14 days of being told you want to cancel.

This right is in addition to, and does not affect, your legal rights if the service is not carried out with reasonable care and skill.

We may cancel your order, telling you why, if:

• payment fails;
• we cannot deliver your kit or you do not return your sample in time;
• the sample or its paperwork is incorrectly labelled or incomplete, so the laboratory cannot safely match it to you;
• the test would not be appropriate or safe for you, including where our age and safeguarding rules apply; or
• we cannot provide the service for legal, regulatory or clinical-safety reasons.

Where we cancel for a reason that is not your fault, we refund in full. Where a sample has already been analysed, the work has been done and a refund may not be due.

• Follow the collection instructions provided. Results depend on sample quality, and not following them can produce an incomplete or inaccurate result.
• Kits carry an expiry date. Send your sample back well before it, and on a day that allows it to reach the laboratory promptly.
• If the laboratory cannot process a sample, for example it is insufficient, clotted or damaged in transit, we will arrange a free re-collection. If a second attempt also fails we will offer a clinic collection or a refund.

• Turnaround is shown on each test page and starts when the laboratory receives your sample. It ranges from about 6 hours to 25 days depending on the test. A doctor then reviews your results before they are released. These are estimates based on normal running, not guarantees, and they can be affected by things outside our control.
• Results are released to your secure account only after a GMC-registered doctor has reviewed and signed them. Every report shows the reviewing doctor and their GMC number.
• We show your results exactly as the laboratory reports them, including their units and their reference ranges.
• If a result needs urgent attention, a doctor will try to contact you promptly using the details on your account, by phone or email. Keep those details up to date. We may be required by law to notify public health authorities of certain infections.

Give us accurate details, in particular your name, date of birth and sex at birth: reference ranges and the doctor’s review depend on them. Results relate only to the person whose sample was tested. Tell us if your contact details change. Do not use the service to diagnose yourself, and do not stop or start any treatment on the strength of a result without speaking to a clinician.

You have statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, including that we perform our service with reasonable care and skill. Nothing in these terms affects those rights. We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

Beyond that, we are not responsible for:

• loss that was not foreseeable when you placed your order;
• loss you could reasonably have avoided;
• loss caused by your own act or omission, including not following the collection instructions or giving us inaccurate information;
• services provided to you by a third party, such as a partner clinic that collects your sample; or
• business losses. We supply consumers only.

Subject to the paragraph on statutory rights above, our total liability in connection with an order is limited to the amount you paid for it.

Health Intelligence Group Ltd, trading as privatetests, is the data controller for the personal data you give us. How we collect, use, share and keep it is set out in our privacy policy. Results and the clinical record around them are medical records, and we are required to keep them for a defined period even if you close your account, so a request to erase them can only be honoured where the law allows.

If something goes wrong, tell us at support@privatetests.co.uk and we will acknowledge within 2 working days and respond within 5. If you are unhappy with our answer, you can ask us to use alternative dispute resolution, and we will give you the details of a suitable provider. You can go to court instead, or if you are unhappy with the outcome of ADR.

• Your contract with us is personal to you and you may not transfer it to someone else.
• Only you and we can enforce these terms. No one else has rights under them.
• If any part of these terms is found to be invalid, the rest still applies.
• We may update these terms. The version in force when you place an order is the one that applies to it, so please check the date at the top before ordering.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you keep the benefit of any protection given to you by the law where you live, and you can bring proceedings in your local courts.

You only need this if you want it. To cancel, email support@privatetests.co.uk with:

To Health Intelligence Group Ltd, Holly Road Medical Centre, 2A Holly Road, Chiswick, London, W4 1NU, support@privatetests.co.uk: I hereby give notice that I cancel my contract for the supply of the following service [order reference], ordered on [date]. Name of consumer. Address of consumer. Date.