A Leicester private GP clinic has begun offering Galleri, a blood test designed to detect signals from more than 50 types of cancer.

Galleri test moves into private healthcare

The Health Suite, a private GP clinic in Leicester, has begun offering the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test following results from the NHS-Galleri trial.

The blood test is designed to detect signals associated with more than 50 types of cancer, including pancreatic, ovarian, oesophageal and head and neck cancers.

Galleri analyses cell-free DNA in a blood sample to identify chemical changes associated with cancer. Where a cancer signal is detected, the test can also predict where in the body the cancer is likely to have originated.

The test is not intended to replace existing NHS cancer screening programmes and a positive result requires further diagnostic investigation.

Dr Dominic Greenyer, GP and director of The Health Suite, said: “This sits alongside cervical, breast and bowel screening – not instead of it.”

The NHS-Galleri trial involved around 140,000 participants and was designed to assess whether the blood test could help identify cancers earlier in people without symptoms.

Results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting this year found that Galleri detected more cancers than standard care alone and increased the proportion of cancers diagnosed at an earlier stage.

However, the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in late-stage disease.

That distinction is important because the test remains an early detection tool rather than a replacement for established cancer screening or diagnostic pathways.

Test detects cancer-associated DNA signals

Galleri works by analysing cell-free DNA circulating in the blood. Cancer cells can release DNA fragments carrying distinctive methylation patterns, which can act as signals of the presence of cancer.

Machine learning is then used to assess the patterns and determine whether they are consistent with a cancer signal.

The test has a reported specificity of 99.6%, meaning that relatively few people without cancer receive a positive result. Around six in 10 people who receive a positive Galleri result are subsequently confirmed to have cancer, according to information provided by The Health Suite.

The ability to detect signals associated with multiple cancers is particularly relevant to cancers for which there is currently no routine population screening programme in the UK.

Dr Greenyer said patients needed to understand the limitations of the test before undergoing it.

“A negative Galleri result does not mean you don’t have cancer, and every positive result needs proper diagnostic follow-up,” he said.

The distinction between screening and diagnosis is important. Galleri identifies a signal that may indicate cancer but does not provide a definitive diagnosis.

Private access follows NHS evidence

The Health Suite is offering Galleri to adults aged 50 and over, as well as younger people considered to have an increased personal or family risk of cancer.

The clinic said the test is not suitable for people who are pregnant, aged 21 or under or who have an active cancer diagnosis.

The NHS-Galleri trial represents one of the largest studies of a multi-cancer early detection test, but its findings do not establish that Galleri reduces cancer mortality or provides a replacement for existing screening programmes.

For UK patients, the availability of the test through private healthcare therefore represents an additional option for cancer risk assessment rather than a change to NHS screening guidance.

The Health Suite is among the private providers now making the test available, while further evidence will be needed to establish how multi-cancer early detection testing could fit into wider cancer screening and diagnostic pathways.