Family medicine
Your routine appointment for anything that is new, worrying, or has not settled on its own. Twenty-five minutes with a clinician who keeps your record.
- From
- £95
- Length
- 25 minutes
- Wait
- Same or next working day
Women's health
Menopause, contraception, periods and pelvic health, with appointments long enough to take an actual history rather than a summary of one.
- Appointment length
- 45 minutes for a first visit
- From
- £165
- Typical wait
- Within a week
Follow-ups are 25 minutes at £95. Coil or implant fitting is £290 including the device and a six-week check.
A great deal of women’s health care is delivered in ten-minute appointments that are structurally too short for the history required. The result is a pattern most of our patients will recognise: a symptom mentioned, a reassurance offered, and two years lost.
This service is built the other way round. The first appointment is forty-five minutes because perimenopause presents with fourteen different symptoms across six systems and sorting signal from noise takes time.
Menopause
Dr Raman runs a dedicated menopause clinic at Northgate. We prescribe body-identical HRT where it is wanted and appropriate, and we are equally willing to say when we think it is not the answer. Testosterone is prescribed where it is indicated, with monitoring.
Contraception
Fitting and removal of coils and implants, switching between methods, and managing the side effects that make people give up on a method that would otherwise suit them. Local anaesthetic is offered by default.
This appointment is for
- Symptoms you suspect are perimenopause, whatever your age
- Periods that are heavy, painful, irregular or have changed
- Choosing, changing, fitting or removing contraception
- Having been told more than once that what you describe is normal
Step by step
What actually happens
From booking to follow-up, with how long each part takes. No stage of this is a surprise.
- 1
A questionnaire that is actually read
10 minutes, at homeBefore a first menopause or heavy-bleeding appointment you complete a structured symptom score. It takes ten minutes and it means the consultation starts from your answers rather than from the beginning.
- 2
Forty-five minutes for the first visit
45 minutesLong enough for the full history — symptoms, cycle, mood, sleep, sex, work, what you have already tried and what it did. This is the part that most often gets compressed elsewhere, and it is the part that determines the diagnosis.
- 3
Examination or tests, only where they change something
Blood tests do not diagnose menopause in most women over forty-five, and we will explain why rather than ordering them to seem thorough. Where an examination, swab or scan is useful, we do it here or book it the same week.
- 4
A written plan, with the trade-offs
Same dayOptions, benefits, risks in absolute numbers rather than percentages of percentages, and what to expect in the first three months. You leave with it in writing and can change your mind.
- 5
A review at twelve weeks
25 minutesBooked before you leave. Most first choices need adjusting — dose, route, or type — and twelve weeks is when we can tell. Reviews are then annual.
Do I need a blood test to diagnose menopause?
Usually not. If you are over forty-five with typical symptoms, the diagnosis is clinical and FSH testing can be actively misleading because the level swings week to week. Under forty-five, or with an atypical picture, blood tests do have a role and we will explain which ones and why.
Can you prescribe HRT?
Yes, including body-identical oestrogen and micronised progesterone, testosterone where it is indicated, and vaginal oestrogen. We will go through the actual risk figures with you, which are frequently misremembered in both directions.
What does coil fitting involve?
A 45-minute appointment. You are offered local anaesthetic as standard rather than on request, and you may bring someone with you. The fitting itself takes a few minutes. We book a check at six weeks, and the price quoted includes both the device and that check.
I have been told my periods are just heavy. What can you do?
Take a proper history, examine you, check your ferritin and full blood count, and consider whether fibroids, adenomyosis, a bleeding disorder or thyroid disease are in play. Heavy bleeding that affects your life is a reason to act, regardless of whether anyone has called it normal.
Do you see trans and non-binary patients?
Yes. We provide cervical screening, contraception, menopause care and general women's health services to anyone who needs them, and we will use your name and pronouns as you give them to us.
You might also need
Long-term conditions
Structured reviews for diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, thyroid and heart disease — as one appointment that covers everything, not five that each cover a little.
- From
- £180
- Length
- 50 minutes
- Wait
- Within two weeks
Diagnostics & labs
Bloods, ECGs, ultrasound and swabs on site at Riverside, with results explained by the clinician who ordered them.
- From
- £45
- Length
- 10 minutes for phlebotomy
- Wait
- Walk-in from 07:30, Monday to Friday