One ultrasound, once, for men in the year they turn 65. Ten minutes for a condition that is otherwise silent until it kills.
NHS screening is free — this page explains it, we do not sell it
Honest about who benefits and who may be harmed
A GP to talk through a result, a recall or a missed invitation
Your NHS records in the room, with your consent
Talk it through with a GP
Screening itself is free on the NHS. If you want a result explained, have been recalled, or missed an invitation and are not sure what to do, a 20-minute appointment with a GMC-registered GP is £40. Same-day appointments are usually available, 6am to 10pm, seven days a week.
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Men are invited once, in the year they turn 65. One appointment, one scan, and for the great majority that is the end of it — they are discharged and never need another.
It is the shortest and least demanding screening programme the NHS runs, and the one people are least likely to have heard of.
You can refer yourself. Contact your local AAA screening service and ask for a scan.
This applies to any man over 65 who was never invited or did not attend — which includes a great many men who moved, changed GP, or simply binned the letter. Risk rises with age, so being older is a reason to do it, not a reason it has passed you by.
Abdominal aortic aneurysms are far less common in women, and rupture at smaller sizes and older ages. The trials that established the benefit of screening were conducted in men, and screening women has not been shown to produce the same benefit.
That is the honest answer — not that women do not get them, but that population screening has not been demonstrated to help. Women with a strong family history or symptoms should still be assessed on their own merits.
If your father or a brother had an aortic aneurysm, your risk is substantially higher. First-degree relatives of people with AAA are sometimes offered surveillance earlier than 65, and it is worth asking rather than waiting.
Ten to fifteen minutes, and completely painless.
You are usually told the result before you leave.
The width of the aorta, the main artery running down through your abdomen. A normal aorta is under 3cm across.
Most are small and never need surgery. Surveillance exists because the risk of rupture is very low below 5.5cm, and the risk of the operation is not — so watching is genuinely the safer option, not a delay.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm causes no symptoms at all until it ruptures. There is no warning, no gradual decline, and nothing you would notice.
When one ruptures, around 8 in 10 people die — many before reaching hospital.
When one is repaired electively, having been found by screening, the great majority of men survive and recover.
That gap is the entire argument for this programme, and it is a stark one. Ten minutes lying on a couch with gel on your stomach, against a condition that otherwise announces itself by killing you.
This is one of the more clear-cut screening programmes in terms of the balance of benefit to harm, largely because the test is quick, harmless, and answers the question definitively for most men in one go.
Reviewed against UK National Screening Committee, NHS AAA Screening Programme and NICE guidance current at the date shown above.
Around three quarters to four fifths of invited men attend, which is comparatively good — but it still leaves a substantial number unscreened, and they are disproportionately the men at highest risk.
Ask him whether he went. This is a programme where a nudge from a family member demonstrably changes attendance, and where the men least likely to go are the ones who most need to.
A ruptured or rapidly expanding aneurysm is a life-threatening emergency. Call 999 immediately for:
Say that you have, or may have, an aortic aneurysm. It changes what happens next in the ambulance and at the hospital.
Attend the follow-up scans. They exist so that repair can be timed properly, and missing them defeats the point of having been found.
If you are found to have a large aneurysm, there are DVLA implications, and people are frequently unaware of them.
If this affects your livelihood, raise it early rather than discovering it late. We can go through it with you.
For this programme the balance is favourable and reasonably uncontroversial. The test is harmless, the answer is usually definitive and permanent, and the condition it looks for is otherwise silent and usually fatal.
A swelling in the main artery running down through your abdomen. The wall weakens and stretches over years.
It causes nothing at all until it bursts, which is why it is screened for rather than waited for.
Not at all. Gel on your stomach and a probe moved over it for a few minutes.
No needles, no radiation, no fasting, no preparation. You can eat beforehand and drive afterwards.
Because a normal aorta at 65 very rarely becomes dangerous later. The evidence supports a single scan at that age.
If yours is normal you are discharged, and that is a genuine answer rather than a cost saving.
Because screening has not been shown to produce the same benefit in women. Aneurysms are much less common in women and behave differently.
Women with a strong family history or symptoms should still be assessed individually — the programme's absence is not a statement that it never happens.
Yes — contact your local AAA screening service and refer yourself. No GP referral needed.
Being older is a reason to do it, not a reason you have missed the window.
Almost certainly not. Most small aneurysms never reach the size at which surgery is worthwhile.
Surveillance is the safer option below 5.5cm, because the risk of the operation exceeds the risk of rupture at that size.
Stop smoking. It is by a distance the biggest influence on how fast an aneurysm grows.
Also: keep blood pressure controlled, stay active, and attend the follow-up scans. NHS stop smoking services are free.
Yes — having a father or brother with one raises your risk substantially.
Mention it to your GP rather than waiting for 65, since earlier surveillance is sometimes offered to first-degree relatives.
Only if it becomes large. Car drivers must notify the DVLA at 6cm and stop driving at 6.5cm; lorry and bus licences have stricter limits.
If you drive for a living, raise this early — it is frequently not mentioned until it becomes a problem.
No reason to. The NHS scan is free, quick and uses the same ultrasound.
If you are outside the programme, self-referral costs nothing — use that before paying anyone.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
August 30, 2026
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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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