Allergy Blood Tests in Ilkley
Sneezing, itching, a rash, swelling or wheeze soon after eating something or being around something? An allergy blood test tells you what your immune system is actually reacting to.
A 15 minute appointment. Blood taken here at our Ilkley clinic by a registered clinician — not a kit you post to yourself. Results usually back within two to three working days.
Prices start at £140. Pick your panel below and book online, or call us on 0113 531 4947 and we will help you choose.
Is an allergy test the right thing for you?
Allergy and intolerance are two different problems, and only one of them shows up on a blood test. It is worth knowing which one you are dealing with before you pay for anything.
An allergy is an immune reaction. It happens fast — usually within minutes, and almost always within two hours. Think hives, itching, swelling of the lips or face, sneezing, streaming eyes, wheeze or being sick. That is what these blood tests measure.
An intolerance comes on slowly, often hours later, and is usually about digestion — bloating, wind, cramps, feeling wiped out. There is no reliable blood test for it, and we will not sell you one. More on that further down.
A test will probably help if
• Your symptoms come on quickly and reliably after a particular food, animal or time of year
• You have hay fever, asthma or eczema and want to know what is setting it off
• You have had a reaction and cannot work out what caused it
• You need to know before travelling, starting a new job, or a child starting school or nursery
• You have been avoiding a food for years and would like to know whether you still need to
A test probably will not help if
• You have no symptoms and just want a general screen. Testing people with nothing wrong turns up positives that mean nothing, and the usual result is cutting out food you were never allergic to in the first place.
• Your symptoms are delayed, digestive or vague — bloating, tiredness, headaches, brain fog. This kind of testing does not answer that question.
• You have already had a serious reaction and know exactly what caused it. You need a GP or an allergy specialist, not a blood test.
If a test is not the right tool for what you are describing, we will say so. We would rather tell you that than take your money.
If you have had a severe reaction, do not wait for a test
Swelling of the tongue, lips or throat, difficulty breathing or swallowing, a tight chest, feeling faint or collapsing — that is an emergency. Call 999. If that has happened to you before and you have never been properly assessed, please see a GP urgently rather than booking a blood test. You may need an adrenaline auto-injector and a referral to a specialist, and that should not be waiting on a lab result.
How it works
Our allergy tests, and what they cost
Every panel below is a blood test taken here at the clinic. Each one includes total IgE alongside the individual allergens listed, and every appointment is 15 minutes.
Shellfish Allergy Panel — £140
What it covers: Blue mussel, clam, crab, crayfish, lobster, oyster, scallop and shrimp.
Good if you react to seafood but are not sure which kind is the problem.
Dairy Allergy Panel — £155
What it covers: Milk, boiled milk, casein, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, cheddar, parmesan, Swiss cheese and cheese mould.
Boiled milk is tested separately, because some people react to fresh milk but are fine with it baked into food.
Nut Allergy Panel — £155
What it covers: Almond, Brazil nut, cashew, chestnut, coconut, hazelnut, macadamia, peanut, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, sesame and walnut.
The one most people want if a nut is the suspected trigger, or before travelling or starting a new job or school.
Inhalant Allergy Panel — £155
What it covers: Tree pollens (alder, silver birch, hazel, oak, willow), grass pollens (timothy, perennial rye), weed pollens (mugwort, plantain), house dust mites, the common moulds, and cat, dog, horse, cow, rabbit, hamster and guinea pig dander.
This is the hay fever one. Also the right choice for year-round sneezing, or for symptoms that only start around animals.
Food Allergy Panel – 20 allergens — £240
What it covers: Almond, apple, carrot, casein, celery, cod, egg white, egg yolk, hazelnut, milk, peanut, peach, potato, rye flour, sesame, shrimp, soya, tomato, walnut and wheat.
Covers the great majority of common food allergies in one go. A sensible starting point if food is the suspect but you have no idea which one.
Food Allergy Panel – 34 allergens — £365
What it covers: Everything in the 20-allergen panel, plus banana, buckwheat, cabbage, cheddar, chicken, corn, crab, garlic, mustard, oat, onion, orange, rice, salmon, tuna and white bean.
Worth the step up if your diet is varied, or if reactions have happened more than once with no obvious pattern.
ALEX3 Advanced Allergy Panel — £485
What it covers: Around 300 allergens and allergen components from a single sample — foods, pollens, moulds and yeasts, animal dander, house dust and storage mites, insect venoms and latex.
Our most detailed test. Because it looks at individual allergen components rather than whole foods, it can often tell a real allergy apart from cross-reactivity — for example whether a reaction to apples is genuinely apples, or birch pollen cross-reacting. That difference changes what you actually have to avoid. Choose this one if you have no idea where the problem lies, or if previous testing left you none the wiser.
What the price includes
Your appointment, the blood draw itself, and the laboratory fee. No booking fee, no separate phlebotomy charge, and nothing extra at the desk.
It does not include a GP appointment to talk the results through. Plenty of people do not need one — if you tested a single suspected trigger and the answer is clear, the report may be all you were after. If you do want one, it is easy to arrange, and the next section explains how.
Not sure which panel fits? Call 0113 531 4947, tell us what happens to you, and we will point you at the right one.
What an allergy blood test can and cannot tell you
Being straight about this matters, because a result read on its own causes more problems than it solves.
What it can do
• Measure allergen-specific IgE against a defined list, and give you a number for each one
• Confirm or rule out a suspected trigger when your symptoms already point somewhere
• Be done safely when skin prick testing is not an option — widespread eczema, very reactive skin, or a history of severe reactions
• Be done without stopping your antihistamines, which skin prick testing requires
• Cover a lot of ground from one sample, with no risk of a reaction from the test itself
What it cannot do
• A positive result does not prove you are allergic. It shows sensitisation — your immune system recognises that allergen. Plenty of people have detectable IgE to things they eat happily every week. The number only means something when it is read against your symptoms.
• A negative is not an absolute all-clear, particularly if your history strongly suggests a reaction to something.
• It only tests what is on the panel. If your trigger is not on the list, the test will not find it.
• The number is not a severity score. A high result does not reliably predict how badly you would react.
• It cannot diagnose food intolerance, and it will not explain bloating, tiredness or headaches.
Blood test or skin prick test?
Skin prick testing is quicker — results in about twenty minutes — and slightly more sensitive for some airborne allergens. A blood test wins when you cannot stop antihistamines, when your skin is not suitable for testing, when a reaction has been severe, or when you want a wide panel covered in one visit. We offer blood testing. If skin prick testing is clearly the better route for you, we will tell you.
Why people choose us for it
• A CQC-registered clinic, not a pharmacy counter or a kit through the post
• Your blood taken by a registered clinician who does this every day
• No waiting list — usually an appointment within days
• Honest advice about whether testing will actually help you
• GPs on site if you want your results talked through afterwards
Your results, and what happens next
Your report comes by email, usually within two to three working days. ALEX3 can take a little longer. It lists every allergen tested with its own result, so you can see exactly what was measured rather than a summary somebody has written for you.
Want your results explained? There are two ways
Neither is included in the price of a panel, and plenty of people need neither — if you tested one suspected trigger and the answer is clear, the report may be all you were after.
A written GP review — from £45. One of our GPs reads your results alongside what you have told us, and writes back explaining what they mean. Usually enough if you just want to understand the numbers.
A GP appointment — from £90. Time with a GP in person, by phone or by video. The better choice if you want to talk it through properly, or if you might need a prescription, an adrenaline auto-injector or a referral to an allergy specialist.
You can book either through our private GP service, or from the booking link in your results email.
We would suggest one or the other if your results are not clear-cut, or if you are weighing up cutting a food out of your diet.
Your report is yours either way, and it is perfectly suitable to take to your own NHS GP, a consultant, or another clinic.
What about food intolerance and coeliac disease?
Food intolerance. There is no blood test that reliably diagnoses it. IgG “food intolerance” panels are sold all over the internet, but the allergy professional bodies do not support using them, and a positive IgG result generally just reflects the foods you eat rather than foods that are harming you. Acting on one usually means giving up things you never needed to give up.
Intolerance is actually worked out by removing one suspected food properly, then reintroducing it while keeping a symptom diary — ideally with some clinical guidance, and ideally without cutting out half your diet at once. We would rather tell you that than sell you a panel that cannot answer the question.
Coeliac disease is a different thing again — an autoimmune reaction to gluten, not an allergy and not an intolerance. It is screened with a tissue transglutaminase IgA blood test, which we run as part of our blood test profiles. Keep eating gluten until the sample is taken, or the result can come back falsely normal.
Common questions
Do I need to fast, or stop any medication?
No. Eat normally, and keep taking everything you normally take — including antihistamines. They do not affect a blood test.
How long does the appointment take?
Fifteen minutes, for every panel on this page.
When will I get my results?
Usually two to three working days, by email. ALEX3 can take a little longer.
Is a GP appointment included?
No. The price covers your appointment, the blood draw and the laboratory fee. If you want your results explained, a written GP review starts at £45 and a GP appointment starts at £90.
Can you test my child?
Get in touch and we will talk it through with you first. Testing children needs particular care, because a positive result that does not match real symptoms can lead to a child avoiding foods unnecessarily for years.
I do not know which panel I need.
Call 0113 531 4947 and describe what happens to you. We will suggest the panel that fits, or tell you honestly if a test is not what you need.
Can you test for food intolerance?
Not reliably, and we do not sell a test that claims to. There is more on this further up the page.
Do you do skin prick testing?
Not at present. We offer allergy blood testing.
Can I use these results with my own GP or a specialist?
Yes. The report is yours, and it is suitable to take to your NHS GP, a consultant, or a private allergy clinic.
Still not sure? Call 0113 531 4947 or email info@ypchealth.co.uk. We are at 1 Skipton Road, Ilkley, LS29 9EH.