The changes that need checking urgently, and why a lump needs an in-person examination rather than a video call.
Assessed and treated by a GMC-registered GP
Prescriptions, sick notes and referral letters included
A written treatment plan after every appointment
Your NHS records in the room, with your consent
Care led personally by Dr Khan
Attentive, unhurried care that listens properly
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Registered with the Care Quality Commission
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, and survival has improved enormously — the large majority of women diagnosed today are alive ten years later. That improvement rests on two things: screening, and people acting quickly on a change.
Most breast lumps are not cancer. Cysts, fibroadenomas and ordinary hormonal changes account for far more. But the only way to know which one you have is to be examined, and every week of waiting is a week of worry that a clinic appointment would have ended.
We cannot examine you, and a breast lump needs examining. That is not a formality — it is the whole assessment.
If you have found a lump or a change, you need an in-person appointment, urgently. That is your NHS GP, and it is free. Booking a video consultation with us first only adds delay, and we will tell you so.
A rash or eczema-like change on the nipple that does not settle with treatment needs assessing, not more steroid cream.
And a breast that becomes red, swollen and warm without a clear infection — particularly if it does not respond to antibiotics — needs urgent assessment.
It is uncommon but real, and it is diagnosed later because nobody expects it. A lump behind the nipple in a man needs the same assessment.
Combined HRT is associated with a small increase in breast cancer risk, which reduces after stopping. Oestrogen-only HRT carries little or no increase.
That risk sits alongside real benefits — symptom control, bone protection — and the balance is individual. It deserves a proper conversation rather than a headline, and it is one of the things twenty minutes is genuinely useful for.
Breast diagnosis follows a standard three-part assessment at a specialist clinic, usually in one visit:
Only a biopsy establishes a diagnosis. Imaging can raise or lower suspicion; it cannot settle it.
All three happen in a single appointment, which is why the NHS urgent breast pathway is genuinely quick and why arranging the parts privately and separately is usually slower.
No blood test. Tumour markers such as CA 15-3 are not screening or diagnostic tests and should not be used to seek reassurance.
Thermography is not a valid alternative to mammography, whatever is claimed for it.
We cannot examine your breast, and that examination is the assessment. No photograph and no video call substitutes for it.
We do not diagnose or treat breast cancer. Diagnosis needs a one-stop clinic; treatment needs surgery, oncology and a specialist team.
Contact your NHS GP today and ask to be seen and examined. That is the fastest route, it is free, and it leads directly to the urgent breast clinic.
Do not book a remote consultation with us instead. We would spend the appointment telling you to do exactly that, and you would have lost days.
Ask specifically for an urgent breast clinic referral. It is free, and most people are seen within two weeks.
Most changes are not cancer. But waiting to see whether it goes away is the one strategy with no upside — and the appointment that ends the uncertainty is free.
There is no correct technique and no required schedule. What matters is being familiar enough with your own breasts to notice a change — in the shower, dressing, whenever.
Check the whole area including the armpit and up to the collarbone. Breast tissue extends further than most people realise.
NHS breast screening runs from 50 to 71, by invitation, free. Uptake has fallen, and it is the single most effective thing available.
After 71 you can still be screened — but you have to ask. Invitations stop; entitlement does not. That is worth knowing and is widely not known.
Thermography, "breast detox", and supplements marketed for breast health. None has evidence, and thermography in particular has been used to give false reassurance in place of a mammogram.
This is an NHS pathway and it is a good one. Suspected breast cancer goes down the urgent two-week-wait route to a one-stop breast clinic — examination, imaging and biopsy usually on the same visit, free. Nothing a private online GP offers improves on that, and we will not suggest otherwise.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme invites women aged 50 to 71 every three years, free. Attending it is more valuable than any private check, and it is worth saying plainly that private breast screening in average-risk women outside that programme is not recommended — more imaging in low-risk people produces more false alarms and more benign biopsies without improving outcomes.
What we can genuinely do is recognise the pattern and refer the same day — which matters when the alternative is a three-week wait for an appointment to raise it.
The honest limitation: we cannot examine a breast lump, and a photograph does not assess one. Where there is a lump, we refer.
Where private care is genuinely useful is a strong family history — which warrants NHS genetics referral, also free, for risk assessment and possibly earlier surveillance.
Any new breast lump, nipple change, skin change or one-sided nipple discharge needs referral rather than reassurance.
NICE NG12, Suspected cancer: recognition and referral, is the governing guideline. It recommends urgent referral for anyone aged 30 and over with an unexplained breast lump, for those 50 and over with nipple discharge, retraction or other concerning nipple change, and consideration of referral for skin changes suggestive of breast cancer at any age.
NICE CG164, Familial breast cancer, defines the family history thresholds for referral to secondary care or specialist genetics, and covers enhanced surveillance and risk-reducing options.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme operates on UK National Screening Committee advice, inviting women aged 50 to 71 for three-yearly mammography.
The UK NSC does not recommend screening outside that programme for average-risk women, which underpins the position on private screening above.
NICE NG101, Early and locally advanced breast cancer, covers diagnosis and treatment within specialist services.
No, and we would not try. A breast lump needs examining by hand — that is the assessment, not a preliminary to it.
Contact your NHS GP today and ask to be seen. It is free and it is the fastest route to the breast clinic.
Most are not, and waiting is still the wrong call.
The check is quick and free, and it ends the uncertainty either way. Watching a lump is the only approach with no upside.
Usually not. Pain alone is a far more common feature of ordinary hormonal change than of cancer.
Persistent pain in one specific area that does not vary with your cycle is worth having looked at — but pain is not the symptom to focus on. A lump or a skin change is.
Possibly, if there is a significant family history — and the right route is the NHS, free.
NHS genetic services provide counselling before and after, which matters enormously: a result affects your screening, your options, and your relatives.
A direct-to-consumer DNA test delivers a life-altering result with no support attached, and we would not recommend it.
It depends on which HRT, and on your own risk — which is exactly why it deserves twenty minutes.
Combined HRT carries a small increase in risk that falls after stopping; oestrogen-only carries little or none. Against that sit real benefits.
It is a genuine decision, not a yes or no, and being frightened out of treatment by a headline is its own harm.
Yes — you can self-refer for free NHS breast screening after 71.
The invitations stop; the entitlement does not. Very few people are told this.
No. No blood test screens for or diagnoses it.
Tumour markers such as CA 15-3 are not screening tests, and using them for reassurance causes more harm than good.
Yes. It is uncommon, and it is diagnosed later precisely because it is unexpected.
A lump behind the nipple in a man needs the same urgent assessment, and should not be put down to weight or age.
August 30, 2026
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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