Blood Tests
How Long Do Blood Test Results Take?
Why waiting times differ between tests and services, what happens between the laboratory and your clinician, and what to do if your results have not arrived.
7 min read Updated 15 September 2026
Health literacy hub
Medical Guides
Plain-English guides to help you understand blood tests, medical letters, prescriptions, hospital documents and common healthcare terminology — so you can feel more confident before speaking to a clinician.
Medipher explains medical wording in plain English — it does not diagnose or replace a clinician. If this is a medical emergency, call your local emergency number immediately.
Learning collections
Guided pathways that take you through a topic step by step, from the basics to the individual tests.
Understanding Kidney HealthWork through the tests that describe how the kidneys are filtering — creatinine, eGFR, urea and electrolytes — and how they are read together.
- Kidney Function Tests
- eGFR
- Creatinine
- Urea
- Electrolytes
- TSH
- T3
- T4
- Thyroid Blood Tests
- HDL
- LDL
- Triglycerides
- Total Cholesterol
- ALT
- AST
- ALP
- Bilirubin
- Albumin
- HbA1c
- Fasting glucose
- Diabetes blood tests
- Haemoglobin
- Ferritin
- MCV
- Red blood cells
- Anaemia
- How long results take
- Seeing results online
- Reading a report
- Reference ranges
- Report wording
Featured guide
Blood Tests
Read guide Understanding Blood Test Results
Learn what common blood test values such as RBC, Hb, WBC, MCV, platelets and other common blood tests actually mean.
8 min readUpdated 18 September 2026
Newest guides
Blood Tests
How to Find Blood Test Results in the NHS App
How to find and check NHS App blood test results, why some results do not appear, and what labels such as ‘Normal – No action’ mean.
8 min read Updated 13 October 2026
Blood Tests
How to Read Blood Test Results
Learn how to read blood test results: test names, values, units, reference ranges, flags, comments and report status, with a fictional example in plain English.
8 min read Updated 17 October 2026
Available guides
Blood Tests
Understanding Blood Test Results
Learn what common blood test values such as RBC, Hb, WBC, MCV, platelets and other common blood tests actually mean.
8 min read Updated 18 September 2026
Blood Tests
Understanding Liver Function Tests
What ALT, AST, ALP, bilirubin and albumin measure, how they are read together and what may happen next.
8 min read Updated 12 August 2026
Blood Tests
Understanding Kidney Function Tests
A plain-English guide to eGFR, creatinine, urea and electrolytes — and what an unexpected result may lead to.
8 min read Updated 12 August 2026
Blood Tests
Understanding HbA1c & Blood Sugar
What HbA1c measures, how it differs from a single glucose reading and what can make it less reliable.
7 min read Updated 12 August 2026
Blood Tests
Understanding Thyroid Function Tests
What TSH, free T4 and free T3 measure, why they are read together and what usually happens next.
7 min read Updated 18 September 2026
Blood Tests
Understanding Cholesterol & Lipid Profile
Total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides and ratios explained — and how they fit into overall risk.
8 min read Updated 12 August 2026
Blood Tests
CRP Blood Test: What Your Result Means
What a CRP blood test measures, why it is requested, and how high or low C-reactive protein results are usually interpreted.
7 min read Updated 27 August 2026
Blood Tests
Understanding Full Blood Count (FBC) Results
What a full blood count measures — haemoglobin, white cells, platelets and MCV — and what unusual results may lead to.
8 min read Updated 11 September 2026
Blood Tests
How Long Do Blood Test Results Take?
Why waiting times differ between tests and services, what happens between the laboratory and your clinician, and what to do if your results have not arrived.
7 min read Updated 15 September 2026
Blood Tests
How to Find Blood Test Results in the NHS App
How to find and check NHS App blood test results, why some results do not appear, and what labels such as ‘Normal – No action’ mean.
8 min read Updated 13 October 2026
Blood Tests
How to Read Blood Test Results
Learn how to read blood test results: test names, values, units, reference ranges, flags, comments and report status, with a fictional example in plain English.
8 min read Updated 17 October 2026
Coming soon
We're steadily adding new plain-English guides.
Medical ReportsComing soon
Understanding MRI Reports
A plain-English guide to reading MRI scan reports.
7 min read
Medical ReportsComing soon
Understanding ECG Results
What the wording on an ECG report means, in everyday language.
6 min read
Medical ReportsComing soon
Understanding X-Ray Reports
A plain-English guide to reading X-ray reports.
5 min read
Medical ReportsComing soon
Understanding CT Scan Reports
Making sense of CT scan wording in plain English.
7 min read
Hospital CareComing soon
Understanding Hospital Discharge Summaries
Making sense of hospital discharge summaries in plain English.
8 min read
Medical LettersComing soon
Understanding GP Letters
A plain-English walkthrough of common GP correspondence.
6 min read
Medical LettersComing soon
Understanding Referral Letters
What a referral letter means and what happens next.
5 min read
MedicationsComing soon
Understanding Prescriptions
How to read the dose, frequency and instructions on a prescription.
6 min read
Blood TestsComing soon
Understanding Ferritin Results
What ferritin measures and what high or low values may suggest.
5 min read
Blood TestsComing soon
Understanding Vitamin D Results
A plain-English guide to vitamin D blood test results.
5 min read
Medical Glossary
Look up individual medical terms — from haemoglobin and creatinine to HbA1c and TSH — in plain English.
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Medipher guides are general health information, not medical advice. Always discuss your results and medical documents with a GP, doctor, nurse or pharmacist. Currently 11 published, 10 on the roadmap.