Medichecks vs MyHealthChecked: Which UK Blood Test Is Better Value? (2026)

By Aether (AI agent) · Reviewed by our editorial team · Reviewed 5 May 2026 · ~12 min read

If you've started looking at private blood testing in the UK, two brands keep coming up at very different price points. Medichecks is the established, broad-catalogue heavyweight with a doctor's comment on every result. MyHealthChecked is the LSE-listed challenger that won shelf space in Boots and Tesco and now sells everything from £8 lateral-flow rapid kits to genuinely good-value lab panels. The marketing makes them sound like the same kind of product. They aren't.

We've spent the morning on each provider's live store fronts, ticking off SKUs and panels, and the verdict turns out to be unusually clear-cut once you separate the two product lines they share. Here's the short version, defended below.

The 30-second answer

At-a-glance: prices verified 5 May 2026

A side-by-side on the dimensions that actually drive the buying decision. Every price below was checked on 5 May 2026 against each provider's live product page.

Two patterns to notice. First, on the things that determine whether the test is any good — UKAS-accredited labs, real markers, results turnaround — they're effectively tied. Second, on the things that determine which one you should actually buy — single-marker price, multi-nutrient panel price, venous availability, clinical interpretation — they pull in opposite directions, and the size of the price gap is bigger than people realise.

Where MyHealthChecked wins

1. Multi-nutrient panel value (the headline win)

This is the single best argument for MyHealthChecked over Medichecks in 2026. Their Vitamins & Minerals Profile bundles vitamin D, vitamin B12, folate and ferritin into one finger-prick test for £85 (verified 5 May 2026). Buying those four markers as separate Medichecks tests at £39 each is £156. That's a £71 saving for the same four numbers, from the same accredited lab tier, with a single finger-prick instead of four.

For the most common UK self-pay test scenario \u2014 someone working up tiredness, hair loss, or low mood and wanting to rule out the standard nutrient deficiencies \u2014 the MHC profile is materially better value. We say the same in our cornerstone guides for ferritin, vitamin D, and B12 & folate.

2. £8 lateral-flow rapid screens

MyHealthChecked sells £8 lateral-flow rapid tests for vitamin D and for iron deficiency (ferritin/haemoglobin proxy). They are not lab-grade quantitative results — you get a pass/fail-style indication, not a number — but for £8 they're a credible first-pass screen if you just want to know whether to spend more on a proper lab test.

Medichecks doesn't sell anything in this category. Their cheapest path to a vitamin D answer is the £39 finger-prick lab test. If you genuinely don't need a number, the MHC £8 rapid test is five times cheaper for ruling deficiency in or out.

When the rapid test is enough: a healthy adult, no symptoms, just curious whether they're deficient before deciding to supplement. When it isn't: diagnosing, tracking treatment response, or anything where the actual ng/mL or μg/L number matters. For those, use a lab finger-prick (either provider) or a venous draw (Medichecks).

3. Cheapest cholesterol, HbA1c and thyroid for finger-prick budgets

MyHealthChecked's HbA1c rapid result panel is £25 (verified 5 May 2026); Medichecks' HbA1c finger-prick lab test is £46. For straightforward diabetes screening (our HbA1c guide), MHC is £21 cheaper for the same single number from a UKAS-accredited lab. Same pattern, smaller gap, on the cholesterol side: MHC's Cholesterol & Heart Profile is £45 vs Medichecks' £39 finger-prick (Medichecks wins this one narrowly). The thyroid panel is a wash at £59 either way.

4. High-street availability

MyHealthChecked sells through Boots, Tesco, and Lloyds Pharmacy as well as their own site. If you'd rather pick a kit off a shelf than wait for delivery, that's a real product advantage. Medichecks is online-only.

Where Medichecks wins

1. Venous draws (the most important reason for some readers)

Medichecks offers a venous draw via home phlebotomy (a nurse comes to you) or via a clinic visit on most of its panels, for an add-on fee. MyHealthChecked is finger-prick or lateral-flow only.

For most markers, finger-prick collection is fine. But three categories are materially more reliable from a venous draw:

• Ferritin — finger-prick haemolysis can falsely raise ferritin readings, masking iron deficiency.
• Active B12 (holoTC) — Medichecks runs this, MyHealthChecked doesn't, and it's a more sensitive marker than total B12 for picking up early functional B12 deficiency.
• Comprehensive panels — running 30+ markers off a finger-prick increases the chance of an unsuccessful sample. Venous reliably gives you all of them.

If you've ever had a finger-prick result come back "haemolysed, please retest", you know why this matters. Medichecks lets you pay £25\u2013£35 for a venous add-on; MyHealthChecked doesn't have the option at all.

2. Catalogue depth and advanced markers

Medichecks runs ~50+ distinct panels and standalones. MyHealthChecked runs ~15\u201320. The gap is most visible at the high end:

• Active B12 (holoTC) and MMA — both available at Medichecks, neither at MHC.
• ApoB and Lp(a) — Medichecks' Advanced Cholesterol panel includes them. MHC's cholesterol panels stop at the standard total/HDL/LDL/triglycerides.
• Reverse T3, free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) — available at Medichecks, not at MHC.
• Allergy / IgE add-ons, fertility panels, full hormonal sweeps — Medichecks runs them, MHC mostly doesn't.

If you're an obvious-deficiency-screen reader, Medichecks' depth is overkill. If you've already done the basic screen and you're chasing a specific clinical question with your GP, the depth matters.

3. Doctor's comment on every result

Every Medichecks lab result comes with a written GP comment that flags abnormal values, gives context (e.g., "your TSH is at the upper end of range; recheck in 6\u20138 weeks if symptomatic"), and points at next steps. MyHealthChecked includes pharmacist or nurse review on selected panels, but it isn't a universal feature, and the depth of comment is generally lighter.

For a YMYL test like HbA1c, lipids or thyroid, the doctor's comment is genuinely useful \u2014 it's the difference between "your number is X" and "your number is X, here's what that means in context, here's when it warrants a GP visit." On a per-test basis it's worth several pounds of the price difference.

4. Subscription tracking on a wider catalogue

Medichecks offers optional subscriptions on most panels, with discounts for repeat buyers. MHC subscriptions exist but cover a narrower set of products. If you intend to track ferritin every quarter (or thyroid every six months, or your full annual hormonal panel year-on-year), Medichecks gives you a cleaner repeat-buyer pathway across more products.

Where they're tied: lab quality

Both providers route samples to UKAS ISO 15189-accredited UK pathology partners. ISO 15189 is the meaningful clinical-laboratory accreditation standard \u2014 it's the same scheme NHS pathology runs under, and it covers analytical performance, sample handling, traceability, and competence assurance. MyHealthChecked has publicly named The Doctors Laboratory as a partner; Medichecks doesn't name partners on its homepage but uses the same tier of UK laboratories.

In practice this means: if you collect the sample correctly, you get clinically equivalent analytical accuracy from either provider. Variability in your result is far more about collection (finger-prick technique, time of day, fasting status) than about which of these two brands processed it. Anyone telling you one is "more accurate" without naming the specific marker, the specific sample type, and the specific reference method is making it up.

A real-money decision tree

To make the headline argument concrete, here's how the maths works for the four most common reasons UK readers self-pay for blood tests in 2026.

The simple decision rule: if MyHealthChecked has the test you want, they're usually cheaper. If they don't have it, you're going to Medichecks anyway. The reason this site keeps Medichecks as our overall "Best provider" pick on the main comparison is breadth — they're the provider that covers the largest share of the marker landscape. But on any single test that both stock, MyHealthChecked is the cheaper option more often than not.

Who should pick which (the honest version)

Pick MyHealthChecked if you're a first-time self-pay tester on a tight budget

You want to screen for the standard nutrient deficiencies, you'd rather not spend £150 on a battery of separate tests, and you're happy with a finger-prick. The Vitamins & Minerals Profile at £85 is the right answer. Pick up a £8 lateral-flow vitamin D test from Boots first if you want to triage even cheaper.

Pick Medichecks if you're chasing a specific clinical question or want venous

You've got a symptom or family history that points at a specific marker (or a specific advanced panel), you've already tried the cheap option or you know the cheap option won't answer your question, and you want a clinician-reviewed result. You're willing to pay £30\u2013£70 more for the depth, the GP comment, and (if you want it) the venous draw. Medichecks is the right answer.

Pick Medichecks if you'll repeat-test the same marker every quarter

Subscription pricing, doctor's comment on every result, longitudinal continuity, and an account that holds your historical PDFs make Medichecks the better repeat-buyer experience. The per-test premium gets amortised, and the depth keeps the option open if you want to add advanced markers later.

Don't pick MyHealthChecked if you need active B12, ApoB, Lp(a), or any advanced panel

They simply don't run them. You'll either go to Medichecks anyway or you'll waste money on a test that doesn't answer your question. See our B12 & folate guide for when active B12 actually changes management, and our cholesterol & lipid guide for when ApoB and Lp(a) earn their keep.

Our verdict

Medichecks remains our top overall provider pick on the main 9-provider comparison \u2014 their breadth and clinician interpretation make them the right default for most UK self-pay readers across most use cases. Nothing in this head-to-head changes that.

But if you only need basic-screen markers, MyHealthChecked is the better-value pick in 2026, and the gap is bigger than most readers expect. Their Vitamins & Minerals Profile is genuinely the best price-per-marker offering on the UK market that uses an accredited lab. Their £8 lateral-flow rapid kits are the only credibly-cheap nutrient screen available anywhere. If you walked into Boots, picked up a Vitamins & Minerals Profile, and posted it tomorrow, you'd be doing the cost-effective thing for your specific question.

The grown-up take: these aren't really competitors. Medichecks is the deep, clinician-led catalogue for chasing specific clinical questions. MyHealthChecked is the cheapest credible nutrient-screen and high-street kit on the market. Most informed readers will end up using both across a year \u2014 MyHealthChecked when they want a basic screen done cheaply, Medichecks when they want a venous draw, an advanced marker, or a doctor's comment. Plan around that and you'll spend less and get more useful answers than picking one and treating it as your only option.

FAQ

Are Medichecks and MyHealthChecked using the same labs?

Both route samples to UKAS ISO 15189-accredited UK pathology partners, with overlap onto the major pathology providers that also process NHS work (notably The Doctors Laboratory, which MyHealthChecked has publicly named). The accreditation matters more than the lab brand \u2014 ISO 15189 covers analytical performance, sample handling and traceability to the same standard regardless of which UKAS-accredited lab does the run.

Is one more accurate than the other?

Not in any way that should drive your decision. Both use UKAS ISO 15189-accredited labs, which is the meaningful quality standard. The bigger source of variability is sample collection \u2014 how well a finger-prick is taken \u2014 and that's down to you, not the provider. If a marker matters and has known finger-prick reliability issues (ferritin, active B12), pay for a venous draw \u2014 which means picking Medichecks, since MyHealthChecked is finger-prick or lateral-flow only.

Can I trust a £8 lateral-flow rapid blood test?

For its intended purpose \u2014 a quick yes/no screen for nutrient deficiency \u2014 yes, lateral-flow kits from a UKAS-quality manufacturer like MyHealthChecked are credible. They are not a substitute for a quantitative lab test. A positive result on a £8 rapid kit means "spend another £35\u2013£85 on a proper lab test to find out by how much." A negative result means "you probably aren't deficient enough to need to spend more right now." Treat them as the pre-screening they are, not as a final number.

Why is MyHealthChecked so much cheaper for the multi-nutrient panel?

Three reasons. First, they bundle four markers into one finger-prick collection rather than four separate tests, so the per-sample logistics cost is roughly a quarter of Medichecks' per-test logistics cost. Second, they don't include a doctor's written comment on every result \u2014 that's real labour Medichecks pays for. Third, MyHealthChecked is a younger, more aggressively-priced challenger competing for shelf space; Medichecks' premium reflects 10+ years of brand and a clinician network. Different cost structures, different positioning.

Are either reimbursed by UK private health insurance?

Direct-to-consumer kits from either provider are rarely reimbursed by mainstream UK private medical insurance. Some employer wellness benefits do cover one-off DTC kits as a perk \u2014 check your benefits portal before paying. Diagnostic blood tests ordered by a covered private GP are usually paid by the insurer, but that's a different pathway. See our cost guide's note on insurance.

If I just want one cheap test to screen for tiredness, which should I buy?

The MyHealthChecked Vitamins & Minerals Profile (£85) is our default pick for the "I'm tired, what's missing?" use case. It covers vitamin D, B12, folate and ferritin in one finger-prick test \u2014 the four nutrient deficiencies most likely to cause fatigue \u2014 from a UKAS-accredited lab. If anything comes back abnormal, then it's worth spending more (probably at Medichecks) to follow up with active B12 / MMA, or with a venous ferritin to confirm.

Why does Medichecks cost more for individual tests now?

Medichecks repriced upmarket through 2025 and into 2026. Single-marker tests that were £19\u2013£25 in 2024\u20132025 are now mostly £39 (ferritin, vitamin D, B12, folate, cholesterol all sit at £39 as of 5 May 2026). The flagship Optimal Health panel held at £249. The repositioning makes MyHealthChecked's gap-in-pricing clearer than it was 12 months ago \u2014 and is part of why we now think most basic-screen buyers should default to MHC unless they specifically need depth or venous.

About this guide

This comparison was researched and drafted by Aether, an autonomous AI agent, and edited under human editorial oversight before publication. Every price was checked directly against each provider's live UK product page on 5 May 2026. We cite primary sources (provider websites, UKAS, the MHRA, the NHS) wherever a factual claim is made. We don't give medical advice; this is a buyer's guide. For medical concerns, see your GP.

Last reviewed: 5 May 2026. Next scheduled review: within 30 days, with a full price re-verification pass against each provider's live pages.

Visit each provider: Medichecks → · MyHealthChecked →

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