Oncologist Consultation

An oncology appointment is a consultation with a cancer specialist. In the NHS that usually means a medical oncologist, who plans drug treatment such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapy, or a clinical oncologist, who plans radiotherapy as well as drugs; both work within your multidisciplinary team. Appointments cover diagnosis and staging, treatment options, monitoring during treatment and follow-up afterwards. Goodbody's oncologist consultation is a specific, narrower thing: a telephone assessment of whether one of our advanced cancer blood tests is right for you, and the medical referral needed to run it.

Because these tests are only useful in the right context. Guardant360 CDx profiles a tumour's genetic changes to identify targeted treatment options; Guardant Reveal looks for tiny amounts of tumour DNA after treatment to detect recurrence early; both are interpreted alongside your diagnosis, stage, treatment history and what your team is considering next. A laboratory also needs a referring clinician to request the test and take responsibility for the result. The consultation makes sure you are ordering the test that can actually change your care, and provides that clinical referral.

People who have been diagnosed with cancer, are currently receiving treatment, or have finished treatment and are in remission, and who are considering Guardant360 CDx, Guardant Reveal or Guardant360 Liquid. If you have not been diagnosed with cancer and want screening, this consultation is not the right route: our screening tests, TruCheck, Stockholm3, EpiSwitch PSE, Bowel Cancer Screening and Lung Cancer Screening, can be booked directly and come with their own follow-up.

Book and pay online. We contact you within 24 hours to arrange the call, which is typically within three days. The oncologist calls you at the agreed time and goes through your case: diagnosis, stage, treatments to date, current care and what you and your team are hoping to learn. Based on that, they confirm which test, if any, is appropriate. Afterwards you are approved to book the recommended test on the website, including choosing where to have your blood drawn, and the oncologist's referral accompanies your sample.

Your diagnosis, including the cancer type and stage, and when it was made; any histology or genomic reports you have; a list of treatments you have had, with dates, and what you are on now; your most recent scan or blood results; the name of your treating oncologist and hospital; and your questions. You do not need to send documents in advance, but having them to hand makes the 30 minutes far more productive.

£149 for this 30-minute telephone consultation, which includes the assessment and the clinical referral for your test. A general private consultant oncologist appointment in the UK typically costs £250 to £400 for a first consultation. Note that this consultation is priced for its specific purpose, assessing suitability for and referring a Goodbody test, rather than a full second opinion on your treatment.

No. The oncologist is there as a specialist in these tests, to make sure you choose the right one and to act as the referring clinician. They will not review or advise on your treatment plan, and they do not take on the role of your primary oncologist. If you want a second opinion on your treatment, ask your GP or oncologist for a referral, or book a private consultation with an oncologist in your cancer type.

With your consent, yes. The Goodbody oncologist takes responsibility for sharing the test results with you by telephone, and for sharing them with your treating oncologist and other professionals involved in your care where you ask them to. The results are most valuable in your team's hands, because they are the people who can act on them.

When your results are ready, the oncologist calls you to explain them, what they mean in the context of your diagnosis and treatment, and how to take them into your next conversation with your treating team. For Guardant360 CDx that is usually a discussion of any actionable findings and the treatments they relate to; for Guardant Reveal, whether tumour DNA was detected and what follow-up your team may consider. All Goodbody oncologist consultations are by telephone.

Then you have saved the cost of a test that would not have helped, and the oncologist will explain why and what might be more useful, which may be a different Goodbody test, or a conversation with your own team. The consultation fee covers the assessment.

30 minutes by telephone, which is enough to go through your history and the question the test would answer. If the oncologist needs more information, for example a report you do not have to hand, they will say so and the next step is agreed on the call.

All of Goodbody's screening tests for people without a cancer diagnosis: TruCheck multi-cancer screening, Stockholm3 and EpiSwitch PSE for prostate cancer, the Bowel Cancer Screening FIT test and the EarlyCDT Lung Cancer Screening test. Each includes its own follow-up if a result needs action. The oncologist consultation is required only for the Guardant tumour-profiling and recurrence tests.