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Scans and tests your GP or consultant may recommend for Sore throat

This is information about which scans and tests may be used to assess Sore throat, and what each one is: not a recommendation. Your clinician decides which scan or test, if any, you need. Prices below are typical UK private ranges; enter your postcode to see the NHS wait near you.

A sore throat is pain or scratchiness in the throat, usually caused by a viral infection such as a cold, and sometimes by a bacterial infection, acid reflux or irritation. About sore throat and NHS waits →

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Diagnosed by examination
A sore throat is normally diagnosed by your GP from your symptoms and an examination of the throat. No scan is needed for a typical sore throat.
Nasendoscopy
A thin camera passed through the nose to look at the throat, used by an ENT specialist if the pain is persistent or needs further checking. It is a test, not a scan.
A nasendoscopy passes a thin flexible camera up the nose to look at the nasal passages and sinuses. It is a camera test rather than an imaging scan, done in clinic.
How long: A few minutes, usually after a numbing spray.
Good for: Seeing polyps, inflammation and the state of the nasal passages directly.

Sources: NHS, NICE CKS.

See the wait and price near you

Enter your postcode for the NHS wait at your nearest hospital and the private price range from clinics within 25 miles.

All conditions, scans and tests →MRI waits by hospital →All NHS waiting times →

Wait or Pay is independent and is not the NHS. NHS waits are from DM01 diagnostics data. Nothing here is medical advice; your clinician decides which scan, if any, you need.

How long will you really wait, and how could you go sooner?

Your free companion dashboard compares all four paths for Sore throat: wait, switch to a faster NHS hospital, part-private, or fully private. It names the faster hospitals near you, shows what going private would cost, and gives you letters ready to send. You can print it or save it as a PDF. Free, and nothing is locked or paid.

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