Long waiting times to see GPs and more public confidence in home testing kits have contributed to an increase in sales at an East Midlands supplier.
Test Your Intolerance, which is based in Castle Donington on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, supplies a range of allergy, intolerance and health tests.
Some of the kits need customers to send off finger-prick blood samples to find out if they have allergies or food intolerances so they can amend their diets or makes changes to their lifestyle. Other kits, including some blood tests and urine tests, can get results pretty much straight away.
The business is one of a growing number providing services traditionally done by the NHS prior to more than a decade of cuts.
Test Your Intolerance management said last month the business processed 12,912 tests compared to 6,385 in January 2022.
Turnover for its latest financial year was £3.5 million compared to £2.75 million in 2021. A spokeswoman said: “Figures for this year are even higher, but they are not at a year end until September.”
Cris West, who runs Test Your Intolerance with business partner Jason Wootton, said: “We have never been busier and this January we tested more samples than ever before.
“This is almost certainly because the NHS is in crisis and people can’t get an appointment to see their GP, never mind the ability to ask for a blood test.
Most Read
“Our own research, innovation and laboratory place us at the forefront of our industry and we are proud to give people invaluable information about their bodies that can potentially change their lives for the better.”
The business, which has been running for 14 years, also supplies kidney and liver function tests, as well as a prostate health tests and a kit that measures levels of Vitamin D.
It has also released a menopause kit, which allows women to tests for elevated levels of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) – a sign that they have started going through the menopause.
Cris believes that the experience of using self-test kits during the pandemic increased awareness and trust in this sort of technology.
He said: “Our tests are clinically proven and because people have more faith in carrying out self-testing, as they did during Covid, there is increased confidence in the kits we produce.
“The majority of our tests are identical to those used by medical professionals, which means that presenting your GP with evidence of an allergy or intolerance will place you a step nearer to suitable medication, or an appointment with a specialist.
“Our tests will provide answers to unexplained rashes, wheezes or reactions to food or insect stings and our repeatability, which tests how consistent the results are, is among the best in the 海角视频.”