Medical disclaimer

The short version

1. Who we are and what this covers

This disclaimer is issued by The Livewell Syndicate Ltd, company number 12929061, Unit L3, Base Business Space, Chamberlain Road, Hull, HU8 8HL. It applies to this website, to the results and reports we return, to any commentary or explanation supplied with them, and to anything our team tells you about your results. Read it together with our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

If you receive our services through your employer, the agreement between us and your employer governs the service, but this disclaimer still applies to how you use your results.

We may update this page from time to time. The date at the end of this page shows when it was last updated.

2. What we are, and what we are not

We arrange the collection of blood samples, send them to an accredited laboratory for analysis, and return the results to you with a written explanation of what they mean. The explanation is drafted with the help of artificial intelligence and checked by our Managing Director, a physiologist. No doctor reviews your results.

We are not a GP practice, a hospital or an emergency service. We do not diagnose, treat or prescribe. We do not hold your medical records, and unless you give it to us we do not know your medical history.

Anything we tell you is based only on the results in front of us and the information you have provided. Our services are for people aged 18 or over.

3. Information on this website

Everything published here, including guides, articles and test descriptions, is general information written for a wide audience. It is not tailored to you. We take care to keep it accurate, but medical knowledge changes and we cannot guarantee that every page is complete or current. Links to other websites are provided for convenience. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content.

4. What a blood test result is, and what it is not

A result is one measurement, from one sample, at one moment. It is not a diagnosis.

Each result is reported against a reference range. Reference ranges are set statistically and are usually drawn to include about 95 per cent of an apparently healthy population. That means roughly one healthy person in twenty will fall outside the range on any single marker by chance, and the more markers you test, the more likely it is that at least one is flagged.

A result inside the range does not rule out illness. A result outside it does not confirm one.

Reference ranges also differ between laboratories and may not be adjusted for your age, sex, ethnicity, pregnancy, medication or existing conditions, so compare a result only with results from the same laboratory.

5. Things that can change a result

Many things affect what is in your blood on the day, and none of them mean you are unwell. These include:

• whether you fasted

• the time of day

• hydration

• recent exercise (hard training can raise muscle and liver markers for several days)

• a recent illness

• sleep

• alcohol

• stress

• the menstrual cycle

• pregnancy

• medications or supplements

Some supplements, biotin in particular, can interfere directly with certain laboratory methods and produce falsely high or low readings. How a sample is collected, stored and transported also matters.

Following the preparation instructions we give you, and telling us about any medication or supplements, reduces these effects but cannot remove them.

6. A test only measures what it measures

A panel reports only the markers it includes. It is not a whole body health check and cannot detect conditions that do not show in the markers tested. Many conditions, including many cancers, cannot be found or excluded by a blood test. If you have symptoms, see your GP regardless of what your results show.

7. Laboratory analysis and accuracy

Our samples are analysed by Inuvi Diagnostics Limited, a laboratory accredited by UKAS to ISO 15189. Inuvi sends some specialist tests to another accredited laboratory. Even in an accredited laboratory, every test has a margin of analytical variation and no test is perfectly sensitive or specific. Occasionally a sample cannot be analysed, for example because it has clotted, haemolysed or is too small in volume, and a repeat collection will be arranged as set out on our Returns and Cancellations page. Where a result is unexpected or does not fit with how you feel, repeating the test before anyone acts on it is often the right next step.

8. Explanations and automated content

The written explanation that comes with your results is drafted by our results platform, BloodGPT, using artificial intelligence and general medical references. Before release, our Managing Director, a physiologist, checks it for errors and removes anything that reads as a diagnosis or treatment advice. It is educational information about your results. It is not a medical opinion, it can still be wrong, and no doctor reviews it.

If you book a consultation to talk through your results, it explains what your results mean. It is not a medical consultation, it is not medical advice, and it does not replace advice from your GP.

9. Abnormal and urgent results

If the laboratory flags a result as critical, we will telephone you the same day and tell you to seek urgent medical care. If we cannot reach you, we will also text and email you, without giving the result. Where the result suggests a risk to your life and we still cannot reach you, we may ask the emergency services to check on you. Keep your contact details current. We cannot guarantee that we will reach you, and you remain responsible for seeking care.

If you feel unwell, do not wait for us. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call 999. For urgent advice that is not an emergency, call NHS 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk.

10. Acting on your results

Take your results to your GP or another qualified healthcare professional, especially if any are flagged. Do not start, stop or change any medication, supplement, diet or training programme on the strength of a result without professional advice. Never disregard advice from a healthcare professional, or delay seeking it, because of something you have read on this website or because of a result we have returned.

11. Our regulatory position

The Livewell Syndicate Ltd is not currently registered with the Care Quality Commission. Our employer arranged and employer funded screening programmes are provided under the exemption for such services in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Sample collection is carried out by trained phlebotomists and other healthcare practitioners.

12. Liability

Nothing in this disclaimer excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be excluded or limited by law, and nothing here affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

Subject to that, we are not responsible for decisions you make, or actions you take or do not take, in reliance on general information on this website, on a result without appropriate professional advice, or on third party content we link to.

13. Questions and complaints

complaints@livewellsyndicate.com
01482 765 131

Our complaints procedure is here.