Skip to main content
  • Language
    • Afrikaans
    • Albanian
    • Arabic
    • Armenian
    • Azerbaijani
    • Basque
    • Belarusian
    • Bengali
    • Bulgarian
    • Catalan
    • Chinese (Simplified)
    • Chinese (Traditional)
    • Croatian
    • Czech
    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • Esperanto
    • Estonian
    • Filipino
    • Finnish
    • French
    • Galician
    • Georgian
    • German
    • Greek
    • Gujarati
    • Haitian Creole
    • Hebrew
    • Hindi
    • Hungarian
    • Icelandic
    • Indonesian
    • Irish
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Kannada
    • Korean
    • Lao
    • Latin
    • Latvian
    • Lithuanian
    • Macedonian
    • Malay
    • Maltese
    • Norwegian
    • Persian
    • Polish
    • Portuguese
    • Romanian
    • Russian
    • Serbian
    • Slovak
    • Slovenian
    • Spanish
    • Swahili
    • Swedish
    • Tamil
    • Telugu
    • Thai
    • Turkish
    • Ukrainian
    • Urdu
    • Vietnamese
    • Welsh
    • Yiddish
  • 0208 548 7520
  • Text Size
    • Increase Text Size
    • Decrease Text Size
    • Reset Text Size
Grove Surgery Providing NHS services
Providing NHS services
Search
Show Main Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Signing Up For Patient Participation Group
    • Subject Access Request (SAR)
    • Have Your Say
    • Making the most of your Practice
    • Opening Hours
    • What to do when we are closed
    • Our Team
    • Regulations & Governance
  • Appointments, Tests & Referrals
    • Appointments
    • Referrals for Further Care
    • NHS e-Referral Tracking - Choose & Book
    • Self-Referrals
    • See a Doctor or Healthcare Professional
    • Tests & Investigations
  • Clinics & Services
    • Clinics
    • Practice Services
    • Order a Repeat Prescription
    • Register with us as a New Patient
    • Asthma Annual Review Questionnaire
  • Help & Support
  • Additional Information
    • General Data Protection Regulation
    • Named GP
    • Safeguarding
Show Side Menu

Key Information

  • Accessible Information
  • Coronavirus
  • Disabled Patients
  • Extended Access Hubs - GP Hub
  • Extended Hours
  • How the NHS and care services use your information
  • Updating your details
  • NHS Advocacy
  • COVID-19 & Flu
  • Friends and Family Test
Call 111 when it's less urgent than 999
  • Live Well
  • Conditions A to Z

BBC Health News

  • The doctor strike is ending - what comes next?30 Jul 2025 00:00With doctors returning to work after five-day walkout, is there an opportunity for talks to re-start?
  • Rape crisis centre to launch single sex-only meetings after trans row30 Jul 2025 01:34The new group will run alongside an existing service which allows trans and non-binary people to take part
  • Parents 'horrified' by maternity services report29 Jul 2025 14:10NHS England finds "significant'' concerns about services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
  • Why the government wants your pet dog and cat poo29 Jul 2025 11:38The screening is part of the drive to fight superbugs that are resistant to common antibiotic drugs.
  • How did Bronze play Euro 2025 with fractured tibia?28 Jul 2025 17:09Physiotherapist Nick Worth tells BBC Sport how Lucy Bronze was able to play through Euro 2025 with a fractured tibia.
  • Pleas for strike doctors to work blocked by union28 Jul 2025 15:50NHS England says 18 requests have been rejected, but the doctors' union says hospitals are stretching staff too thinly.
Home > X-Rays & Scans

X-Rays & Scans

Sometimes your GP might want to have an image of what is happening inside your body. This means that we will need to send you for an X-Ray or a scan. These procedures are explained below:

X-Ray

An X-ray is a widely used diagnostic test to examine the inside of the body. X-rays are a very effective way of detecting problems with bones, such as fractures. They can also often identify problems with your internal organs such as your lungs.

If you have an X-ray, you will be asked to lie on a table or stand against a surface so that the part of your body being X-rayed is between the X-ray tube and the photographic plate.

An X-ray is usually carried out by a radiographer, a healthcare professional who specialises in using imaging technology, such as X-rays and ultrasound scanners.

You can find out more about x-ray tests, how they are performed, their function and the risks by visiting the NHS website.

MRI Scan

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body. An MRI scanner is a large tube that contains powerful magnets. An MRI scan can be used to examine almost any part of the body, including the:

  • brain and spinal cord
  • bones and joints
  • breasts
  • heart and blood vessels
  • internal organs, such as the liver, womb or prostate gland

If you have an MRI scan you will lie inside the scanner and you will be able to talk to the radiographer through an intercom and they will be able to see you on a television monitor throughout the scan.

At certain times during the scan, the scanner will make loud tapping noises. This is the electric current in the scanner coils being turned on and off. You will be given earplugs or headphones to wear. It is very important that you keep as still as possible during your MRI scan. The scan will last between 15 and 90 minutes, depending on the size of the area being scanned and how many images are taken.

You can read more about how MRI scans work on the NHS website.

Ultrasound Scan

An ultrasound scan, sometimes called a sonogram, is a procedure that uses high frequency sound waves to create an image of part of the inside of the body.

As sound waves are used rather than radiation, ultrasound scans are commonly used during pregnancy to produce images of the baby in the womb.

Ultrasound scans can also be used to:

  • detect heart problems
  • examine other parts of the body such as the liver, kidneys and abdomen
  • help guide a surgeon performing some types of biopsy

Most ultrasound scans don’t take long to perform, typically between 15 and 45 minutes. Your ultrasound scan will generally take place in an X-ray department in hospital and will normally be performed either by a sonographer. A sonographer is a specialist trained in the use of ultrasound, who will provide a descriptive report for the doctor to make a diagnosis.

If you have an external ultrasound scan, a small handheld device called a transducer is placed onto you skin, and moved over the part of the body being examined. A lubricating gel is put onto your skin to allow the transducer to move smoothly. Pulses of ultrasound are sent from a probe in the transducer, through your skin and into your body. They then bounce back from the structures of your body to be displayed as an image on the monitor.

Before having some types of ultrasound scan, you may be asked to follow certain instructions before the procedure, such as:

  • drink water and not go to the toilet until after the test – this is to fill your bladder and may be needed before a scan of your unborn baby or your pelvic area
  • avoid eating for several hours before the scan – this may be needed before a scan of your abdomen to lower the amount of air and gas in your stomach or bowel and enable your gallbladder to be better assessed
  • depending on the area of your body being examined, the hospital may also ask you to remove some clothing and wear a hospital gown.

If you would like to understand more about ultrasound scans, when they are used and how they work, please visit the NHS website.

Last Updated 13 Sep 2024

Share

  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Bluesky
  • X (Twitter)
  • LinkedIn
Local Services

Site

  • Sign In
  • Sitemap
  • Back To Top

About

  • Disclaimer
  • Website Privacy
  • Website Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Content Attribution

Contact

Grove Surgery

200–202 Chadwell Heath Lane, Chadwell Heath, Romford , Essex , RM6 4YU

  • 0208 548 7520
© Neighbourhood Direct Ltd  2025
GP Practice Website by Oldroyd Publishing Group

Loading...

Local Services