A full lipid profile with your actual cardiovascular risk calculated — not just a number handed back to you.
Referred by a GMC-registered GP, results reviewed by the same doctor
Taken at a partner site near you
Results explained in plain English, not just a number
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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A lipid profile measures the fats circulating in your blood. On its own it is a set of numbers; interpreted alongside your age, blood pressure, family history and other risk factors, it becomes an estimate of your actual cardiovascular risk over the next ten years.
That distinction is the whole point. Cholesterol is not a disease in itself and treating a number in isolation is poor medicine. What matters is your overall risk, and what changing it would achieve.
Total cholesterol — the headline figure, and the least informative on its own.
LDL cholesterol — the fraction that deposits in artery walls. This is the number most treatment aims at lowering.
HDL cholesterol — carries cholesterol away from the arteries. Higher is generally better, which is why a raised total cholesterol driven by high HDL is a very different finding from the same total driven by high LDL.
Triglycerides — another circulating fat. Raised levels are closely linked to insulin resistance, alcohol intake and excess weight, and often respond well to changes that have nothing to do with cholesterol medication.
Total cholesterol to HDL ratio — the figure that feeds into formal risk calculators such as QRISK3, and generally a better predictor than any single value.
Non-HDL cholesterol — increasingly the preferred treatment target in UK guidance, and does not require fasting to be reliable.
Two things worth flagging. First, familial hypercholesterolaemia — an inherited condition affecting roughly 1 in 250 people — is substantially underdiagnosed and warrants treatment from a much younger age. A very high cholesterol with a family history of early cardiac death is the pattern.
Second, an underactive thyroid raises cholesterol and is a reversible cause. It is worth excluding before committing to lifelong medication, and is often not checked.
Standard profile: total cholesterol · LDL · HDL · total-to-HDL ratio · triglycerides.
Extended heart health panel adds apolipoprotein A-I, B, CII, CIII and E, the ApoB/A-I ratio, small LDL cholesterol, lipoprotein(a) and high-sensitivity CRP, plus a calculated cardiovascular risk score. Worth considering where there is a strong family history, since Lp(a) is largely genetic and is not measured in standard testing.
1. Consultation. We take the history that the numbers get read against — family history in particular, which is the part most often not asked about.
2. Referral. To a Randox Health clinic. We usually request thyroid function, HbA1c and liver function alongside, because all three change how the lipid result should be read.
3. The sample. Modern lipid testing generally does not require fasting — non-HDL cholesterol is reliable either way. We will tell you if fasting is needed rather than making you do it by default.
4. Results review. We calculate your QRISK3 score and show you the actual figure — including what it becomes with and without treatment. The decision about whether to take a statin is then yours, made on real numbers rather than on a flagged result.
Fasting is not usually required. Total, HDL and non-HDL cholesterol — the values UK guidance now treats as the main targets — are reliable whether or not you have eaten, so most people can give a sample at any time of day.
Where fasting does help: triglycerides are the one measure genuinely affected by a recent meal. If triglycerides are the specific question, or a previous result was raised, a 10 to 12 hour fast with water only gives a more accurate figure. We will tell you at the consultation which applies to you rather than asking you to fast by default.
Avoid alcohol for 24 hours beforehand either way, as it markedly raises triglycerides.
Non-HDL cholesterol is what UK guidance now treats as the main target — total cholesterol minus HDL, which captures everything atherogenic in one figure.
Total cholesterol on its own is a poor guide, because a high figure driven by high HDL is a quite different situation from the same figure driven by high LDL.
Your cholesterol result does not tell you whether to take a statin. Your overall risk does.
Age, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, family history and cholesterol together produce a QRISK3 figure — and that is the number the decision rests on. Treating a cholesterol result in isolation is how people end up on lifelong medication they did not need, and how others at genuine risk go untreated with unremarkable numbers.
Lp(a) is almost entirely genetic, barely changes through life, and is not measured on a standard panel. A raised level is an independent risk factor that no amount of diet changes.
It only needs measuring once, and it is worth doing where there is a strong family history of early heart disease — because it changes the risk calculation and it means testing relatives.
Familial hypercholesterolaemia affects roughly 1 in 250 people, is substantially underdiagnosed, and causes high cholesterol from birth. A standard panel can look unremarkable in someone whose family history should be ringing alarms — which is why the history matters more than the printout.
And Lp(a) is not on the standard panel at all, so a normal profile does not exclude it.
Acute illness, recent infection, surgery or a heart attack lower cholesterol temporarily — sometimes for weeks. A result taken in that window underestimates your usual level.
Pregnancy raises it substantially, and testing during pregnancy is not informative.
An underactive thyroid raises cholesterol, and is a genuinely reversible cause that is routinely not checked before starting treatment.
The NHS Health Check is free every five years for adults aged 40 to 74 in England, and it includes cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes risk. It is substantially under-taken by exactly the people it was designed for.
Cholesterol testing is also free on the NHS for anyone with risk factors or an existing condition.
Usually not. Total, HDL and non-HDL cholesterol — the values UK guidance treats as the main targets — are reliable whether or not you have eaten, so most people can give a sample at any time of day.
Fasting helps in one specific situation: if triglycerides are the question, or a previous triglyceride result was raised. We will tell you which applies to you before you go.
The number alone does not answer that. The decision rests on your overall cardiovascular risk — age, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and family history alongside the cholesterol.
We calculate QRISK3 and show you the figure, with and without treatment, so you decide on real numbers rather than on a result that looked high on a printout.
Non-HDL cholesterol, which is total minus HDL and captures everything that matters in one figure.
Total cholesterol on its own is a poor guide — a high figure driven by high HDL is a very different situation from the same figure driven by high LDL.
Diet helps, and lifestyle alone rarely achieves what a statin achieves. Both are true.
Replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat is the change with the best evidence, alongside soluble fibre and plant stanols. It is worth doing whether or not you take a tablet, because it improves overall risk rather than just the number.
That combination should prompt assessment for familial hypercholesterolaemia — an inherited condition affecting roughly 1 in 250 people and substantially underdiagnosed.
It means treatment from a younger age, and it means testing relatives, which is where much of the benefit lies. NHS referral is free.
Lipoprotein(a) is almost entirely genetic and is not on standard panels. A raised level is an independent risk factor that diet does not change.
It only needs measuring once in a lifetime, and it is worth doing where there is a strong family history of early heart disease — because it changes the risk calculation.
Yes, and it is worth excluding before treating. An underactive thyroid raises cholesterol and is entirely reversible — and it is routinely not checked.
Also: poorly controlled diabetes, kidney or liver disease, heavy alcohol use, and certain medicines.
Avoid testing during or shortly after an acute illness, infection or surgery — cholesterol falls temporarily, sometimes for weeks, and the result underestimates your usual level.
Pregnancy raises it substantially, so testing then is not informative.
Every three months while a dose is being adjusted, then annually once stable. Every few weeks tells you nothing, and anyone selling that frequency is selling tests.
Associated with lower risk, yes — but raising it with drugs has repeatedly failed to reduce events in trials.
Which is worth knowing before buying anything marketed to raise it. Lowering LDL is what has been shown to work.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
August 23, 2026
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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