Iron Deficiency Screen

A focused two-marker panel measuring ferritin and full blood count to investigate iron status and potential iron deficiency anaemia. Results are available within four hours at laboratory clinics — a rapid, affordable first step for individuals experiencing fatigue, breathlessness, or pallor.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide and a leading cause of fatigue, particularly in menstruating women, vegetarians, endurance athletes, and individuals with gastrointestinal conditions that impair iron absorption. This focused panel measures the two markers most relevant to identifying iron deficiency before it progresses to symptomatic anaemia. Ferritin reflects the body's iron stores and can be depleted well before haemoglobin levels drop into the anaemic range. Many individuals experience fatigue, reduced exercise tolerance, and cognitive sluggishness at ferritin levels that standard laboratory reference ranges classify as technically normal. The full blood count provides complementary information — mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), and red blood cell count help characterise whether iron deficiency is present and to what degree it is affecting red blood cell production. At £89, this is one of the most affordable targeted investigations available at DocTap and can be completed in approximately 20 minutes. Four-hour turnaround at laboratory clinics means same-day answers for what is, in many cases, a readily treatable condition. For individuals whose ferritin is low but not yet causing anaemia, the early detection this panel enables can prompt dietary adjustments or supplementation before symptoms worsen.