At-home kits now on sale at Tesco let you test yourself for CANCER

At-home kits now on sale at Tesco will let you test yourself for CANCER

  • Tesco has partnered with Newfoundland Diagnostics to offer tests for cancer
  • There will also be tests for the menopause, thyroid problems and deficiencies
  • The at-home tests launch in stores on Monday and will cost between £8 and £12 

Tesco is now selling at-home kits which will let you test yourself for conditions such as bowel cancer and kidney problems. 

The supermarket giant has struck a first-of-its-kind deal with provider Newfoundland, a leading UK provider of diagnostic tests.

Tesco will stock self-diagnostic tests on its website and across more than 500 stores nationwide from today. 

It comes amid huge pressure on the NHS and record long waiting times for doctors, with consumer demand growing for at-home self-diagnostic tools.

Newfoundland will also be supplying Tesco with tests for the menopause, iron and vitamin D deficiencies, thyroid problems, Covid, flu and male fertility. Kits will cost between £8 and £12.

Tesco is selling at-home kits that will let you test yourself for conditions such as bowel cancer and kidney problems

The supermarket giant struck a first-of-its-kind deal with provider Newfoundland, a leading UK provider of diagnostic tests

Tesco will stock self-diagnostic tests on its website and across more than 500 stores nationwide, launching in shops on Monday

The deal with Tesco marks the first time self-diagnostic test kits for widespread health conditions will be available with a major UK retailer.

Some self-testing kits are already available at the likes of Superdrug.

Newfoundland was launched during the pandemic to distribute Covid lateral flow tests.

Co-founder Frederick Manduca said: ‘We want to provide people with the opportunity to take their health into their own hands at an affordable price.

‘With long wait times for doctors and hospital appointments and the very high price point of diagnostic lab tests, we’re offering rapid at home tests that arm people with vital knowledge that can alleviate pressure both on the NHS and patients themselves.’

Mr Manduca said it plans to widen the tests available through Tesco to cover prostate cancer, HIV and urinary tract infections.

It is aiming to launch its at-home HIV testing kit this summer.

READ MORE: New blood test for prostate cancer could end the ordeal of biopsies for thousands of men, experts say 

He said the group is also in talks to sell its range of tests through a number of other retailers, as well as pharmacies, across the UK.

But there are concerns among GPs over the rise of home testing, which they fear could lead some people to misinterpret results and to add extra workloads on over-stretched doctors.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘Self-testing products, available over the counter without prescription, come with pros and cons.

‘They can, of course, provide some peace of mind for patients – and for relatively minor conditions, with clear and easy to access treatment options, they may avoid the patient having to seek medical assistance.

‘Without the appropriate aftercare services, patients may not know how to properly interpret results, or safely and appropriately act on them.

‘In the case of more serious conditions, such as cancer, people may not have the appropriate support in place to deal with what could be very distressing news.

‘Some tests are also quite general, not testing for a specific condition, carrying the risk that some of the results will be unimportant or of dubious value and could leave people unnecessarily confused and distressed.’

Newfoundland will also be supplying Tesco with tests for the menopause, iron and vitamin D deficiencies, thyroid problems, Covid, flu and male fertility, costing between £8 and £12

The deal with Tesco marks the first time self-diagnostic test kits for widespread health conditions will be available with a major UK retailer 

She added: ‘We know from experience, many patients make appointments with their GP for help analysing the results of at-home tests and to discuss the implications of them, in many cases not really needing medical assistance.

‘This also takes up valuable GP time when we and our teams are working under considerable pressure, and patients who really need our care and services are struggling to access them.’

Mr Manduca stressed that Newfoundland’s tests are not designed to replace GPs, but to act as an initial screening tool.

He said: ‘This is an additional tool kit to understand one’s health. It’s not to replace, but to go alongside it.’

READ MORE: New AI blood test for bowel cancer could save lives by slashing huge backlog of cases caused by the Covid-19 pandemic 

Newfoundland said it will be providing additional information on how to correctly use the tests via its app, as well as in leaflets provided in the kits, and also how to read the results.

Mr Manduca said: ‘With the bowel health screening test, a positive result does not necessarily mean you have cancer, but that it could be an indicator and that it may be worth having a check up.’

He said that having an initial screening test can help with early detection that can be critical to the treatment of many diseases, such as prostate cancer in particular.

‘Having a test that’s easy to do – and accessible as well – would make a huge difference to early detection, which really significantly increases the survival rate of this type of cancer,’ he said.

Mr Manduca set up Newfoundland with co-founder Michael Hodnett in 2021 and has already notched up sales of more than £150 million and sold around 91 million tests.

It has supplied major groups such as the NHS, online takeaway delivery firm Deliveroo, the Team GB British Olympic team, as well as a number of governments across the world.

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