Most settles in days. Diarrhoea lasting beyond two weeks is a different question.
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
Five-star Google reviews from the people we have looked after
Registered with the Care Quality Commission
Diarrhoea means looser or more frequent stools than normal for you. Most of it is viral, lasts a few days, and needs fluids rather than a prescription. Antibiotics do nothing for the usual causes and frequently make things worse.
Two things are worth knowing before anything else.
Dehydration is the actual risk, not the diarrhoea itself — particularly in young children and older adults. Oral rehydration salts work considerably better than water alone, because glucose and sodium together drive absorption across the gut wall.
And diarrhoea lasting more than four weeks is a different problem. It is not a long virus. It needs investigating — for coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, bile acid malabsorption or something else — rather than another few days of waiting.
Overflow diarrhoea. Liquid stool leaking past a hard impacted mass — so someone who is actually constipated presents with diarrhoea. Common in older adults and in children, and giving loperamide makes it considerably worse. Suspect it where diarrhoea follows a spell of constipation, or where there is a sense of never emptying.
Metformin, proton pump inhibitors, magnesium-containing antacids, antibiotics, SSRIs, orlistat, colchicine and laxatives. Also sweeteners ending in "-ol" — sorbitol, xylitol — in sugar-free gum, mints and drinks, which is a genuinely common and easily missed cause.
Short-lived diarrhoea in someone who is otherwise well needs no test at all. Assessment is about spotting who needs more.
We cannot examine you or assess dehydration properly by video. Severe dehydration, significant bleeding, or a child who is drowsy and not drinking needs to be seen the same day — and we will say so rather than arranging a stool test.
Effective for ordinary watery diarrhoea, and genuinely valuable if you have a journey or a working day to get through.
Do not use it if there is blood in the stool or a high fever, in suspected C. difficile, or in suspected overflow. Not for young children without advice.
Not for viral gastroenteritis, and not for most bacterial food poisoning, which settles by itself. Reserved for specific confirmed infections, severe illness, or immunosuppression.
Beyond four weeks we test rather than treat. Where bile acid malabsorption fits the picture, a bile acid binder can transform things — and it is worth asking about specifically.
Go to A&E or call 999 for:
Seek same-day advice for:
Book an appointment for:
Alcohol gel does not kill norovirus. This is why outbreaks sweep through households, cruise ships and care homes despite gel dispensers everywhere. Soap and water, thoroughly, is what works — particularly after the toilet and before handling food.
Wash hands before preparing food; keep raw meat separate; cook thoroughly; refrigerate leftovers promptly; and be careful with rice, which is a more common cause of food poisoning than people expect if left warm.
Most acute diarrhoea is viral, settles within a few days, and needs nothing but fluids. Oral rehydration salts cost a few pounds and matter far more than any medicine — dehydration is what causes harm, not the diarrhoea itself.
Your NHS GP treats diarrhoea free, and NHS 111 is the right route out of hours.
Antibiotics are usually the wrong answer and can prolong carriage of some organisms. Loperamide helps symptoms but should be avoided if there is fever or blood in the stool, where slowing the bowel can make an invasive infection worse.
Where a consultation is genuinely worth paying for is diarrhoea that is not acute. Persistent diarrhoea lasting more than four weeks is a different problem and needs investigating rather than treating — coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, bile acid malabsorption and microscopic colitis are all missed for months as “IBS”.
The test that changes management most is faecal calprotectin, which distinguishes inflammatory bowel disease from IBS and avoids unnecessary colonoscopy. It is free on the NHS and arranging it promptly is worth something.
What needs urgent assessment: blood in the stool, diarrhoea with fever and severe abdominal pain, signs of dehydration, recent hospital or antibiotic exposure with severe diarrhoea — suggesting C. difficile — or diarrhoea after travel that is not settling.
NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary, Gastroenteritis and Diarrhoea — adult's assessment, are the principal references. They emphasise oral rehydration as the mainstay and advise against routine antibiotics in acute infectious diarrhoea.
CKS advises against loperamide where there is bloody diarrhoea or fever, given the risk in invasive bacterial infection.
NICE DG11 and CKS support faecal calprotectin testing to distinguish inflammatory bowel disease from irritable bowel syndrome in adults with lower gastrointestinal symptoms, avoiding unnecessary endoscopy.
NICE NG12, Suspected cancer, defines referral criteria for persistent change in bowel habit, rectal bleeding and unexplained weight loss, and covers faecal immunochemical testing in symptomatic patients.
UKHSA guidance covers exclusion periods for infectious diarrhoea, including 48 hours after symptoms settle, and the additional requirements for food handlers and healthcare workers.
For ordinary watery diarrhoea, yes — and it is genuinely useful if you have to travel or work. Not if there is blood in the stool or a high fever, not in suspected C. difficile, and not if you have been constipated recently, because overflow diarrhoea gets much worse with it.
Almost certainly not. Most diarrhoea is viral, and most bacterial food poisoning settles on its own. Antibiotics do not shorten it meaningfully and they raise the risk of C. difficile, which is a considerably worse problem than the one you started with.
Because alcohol gel does not kill norovirus. Soap and water, properly and for long enough, is what works — along with a bleach-based cleaner on bathroom surfaces. This is the single reason outbreaks tear through households that thought they were being careful.
48 hours after your last episode. For food handlers and healthcare staff that is a requirement rather than advice, and for everyone else it is what stops it going round the office. We can provide a note.
No. Diarrhoea lasting more than four weeks needs investigating, not more waiting — coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, giardia, thyroid overactivity and bile acid malabsorption are all treatable and all commonly missed. Faecal calprotectin and coeliac serology are the two tests most often skipped.
Possibly, and it is worth taking seriously. Overflow diarrhoea — liquid stool leaking past a hard impacted mass — presents as diarrhoea while the real problem is the opposite. It is common in older adults and children, and anti-diarrhoeal medication makes it considerably worse. Suspect it if constipation came first, or if you never feel properly empty.
August 23, 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.
Patient reviews
