See your price in 60 seconds
A private resting ECG typically costs £75–£150, a 24-hour ambulatory monitor £300–£500, and an exercise (stress) ECG £250–£500, with appointments usually available within days. The ECG itself takes minutes; what you're really buying is speed through a pathway whose NHS cardiology median wait is 12.1 weeks.
- ✓A private resting ECG typically costs £75–£150; a 24-hour monitor £300–£500.
- ✓Appointments are usually available within days; NHS cardiology's median wait is 12.1 weeks.
- ✓Intermittent palpitations usually need a wearable monitor, not a one-off resting trace.
What a private ECG costs
"ECG" covers a family of tests, and the price depends on which one you need. A resting 12-lead ECG — electrodes on the chest for a few minutes — is the cheapest cardiac test there is. Monitors worn for a day or a week cost more, and exercise testing more still. Typical private prices:
| Test | Typical private price |
|---|---|
| Resting 12-lead ECG | £75–£150 |
| 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitor | £300–£500 |
| Extended (up to 7-day) ECG monitor | £450–£700 |
| Exercise (stress) ECG | £250–£500 |
| Cardiology consultation | £200–£300 |
| Consultation + ECG + echocardiogram package | £600–£1,000 |
Check what the price includes: a technician-recorded trace with a consultant cardiologist's report is the standard to expect, and reporting turnaround is often within 48 hours. If symptoms are likely to need a specialist anyway, the bundled consultation-ECG-echocardiogram packages at £600–£1,000 are usually better value than booking piecemeal — our echocardiogram guide covers the scan half of that pairing.
Resting, ambulatory or exercise — which ECG do you need?
The right test depends on when your symptoms happen. A resting ECG photographs the rhythm at one moment — ideal for a baseline, a pre-operative check or symptoms that are present right now. Its weakness is timing: if your palpitations come and go, a normal five-minute trace on a good day proves very little.
- Symptoms most days? A 24-hour ambulatory monitor (£300–£500) usually catches the rhythm in the act.
- Symptoms weekly or less? An extended monitor worn up to 7 days (£450–£700) trades comfort for a wider net.
- Symptoms only on exertion? An exercise ECG (£250–£500) records the heart under controlled treadmill load.
- Breathlessness or a murmur? That's structural territory — an echocardiogram, not an ECG, answers it.
This is why a short consultation first often saves money overall: a clinician matches the test to the symptom pattern, rather than you paying for a resting trace that was never likely to catch an intermittent problem.
How fast, and how to book one
Speed is the private route's main offer. Resting ECGs are commonly available same-week, monitors are usually fitted within days, and reports typically follow within 48 hours. The comparison isn't really with the NHS ECG itself — an urgent trace can happen quickly at a GP surgery — it's with the pathway around it: getting palpitations assessed, monitored and interpreted through NHS cardiology means joining a queue with a 12.1-week median wait (May 2026). Our waiting times tracker has the current picture.
Booking varies by provider. Some clinics offer a resting ECG on self-referral or with a short screening questionnaire; ambulatory monitors and exercise testing usually want a GP or cardiologist request so there's a clinical question for the report to answer. A private GP appointment (£80–£150) generates a referral quickly, or you can start with a cardiology consultation (£200–£300) if specialist interpretation looks likely either way.
Your heart rhythm, answered in days
Does health insurance cover ECGs?
Yes — cardiac diagnostics are core territory. If palpitations, dizzy spells or an irregular pulse appear and a clinician recommends investigation, a policy with outpatient or diagnostics cover picks up the consultation, ECG, monitors and any echocardiogram that follows, subject to your excess and outpatient limits. Several insurers run fast-track diagnostic services: a call to their clinical team can route you to testing within days, sometimes without a separate consultant visit first.
The maths is worth pausing on. The average UK adult premium is around £80 a month in 2026 — so a self-paid work-up of monitor, echocardiogram and two consultations costs roughly the same as a year and a half of cover that would also have paid for whatever came next. For a healthy 30-year-old paying from around £38 a month, the gap is wider still.
That matters because rhythm problems are rarely a one-test story. A typical palpitations work-up runs ECG, then a monitor, then perhaps an echocardiogram and a follow-up consultation — £1,000–£2,000 self-pay once it all adds up, and more if treatment follows. As a repeat-diagnostics pattern, that's exactly where insurance beats serial self-pay. The usual honesty applies: arrhythmias or heart conditions you had before joining count as pre-existing, and their routine monitoring is typically excluded. Our diagnostics cover guide explains the tiers.
Smartwatches, pharmacy checks — and when they're not enough
Consumer ECGs have genuinely improved: a smartwatch single-lead trace can flag possible atrial fibrillation and is a useful diary of when symptoms strike. But it records one lead where a clinical ECG records twelve, it can't grade what it finds, and false alarms are common. Sensible division of labour: let the watch tell you when something happens, and let a 12-lead trace or a proper ambulatory monitor tell you what it is.
A watch alert plus a normal resting ECG is precisely the situation where a private ambulatory monitor earns its £300–£500 — it settles the question the watch raised. Pharmacy and workplace heart checks occupy similar ground: helpful for spotting an irregular pulse or high blood pressure, but a screening prompt rather than a diagnosis, and anything they flag still needs a 12-lead trace behind it. For most people, the realistic path is: cheap baseline trace, monitor if symptoms are intermittent, echocardiogram if structure is in question — within days privately, or through a policy's fast-track diagnostics if you're covered.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a private ECG cost in the UK?
A resting 12-lead ECG typically costs £75–£150 including a report. A 24-hour ambulatory monitor runs £300–£500, an extended up-to-7-day monitor £450–£700, and an exercise (stress) ECG £250–£500. Packages bundling a cardiology consultation, ECG and echocardiogram cost £600–£1,000 and are usually better value if a specialist opinion is likely anyway.
How quickly can I get a private ECG and the results?
Usually within days — resting ECGs are commonly available the same week, ambulatory monitors are fitted within days, and consultant-reported results typically follow within 48 hours. The wider context is NHS cardiology's 12.1-week median wait (May 2026): the private ECG's real value is compressing the whole assessment pathway into a week or two.
Do I need a referral for a private ECG?
For a resting ECG, often not — some clinics take self-referrals or use a short screening questionnaire. Ambulatory monitors and exercise ECGs usually need a GP or cardiologist request so the report answers a defined clinical question. A private GP appointment (£80–£150) can generate a referral quickly if you're starting from scratch.
What can a resting ECG detect — and what can it miss?
It detects rhythm disturbances happening during the recording (like atrial fibrillation), conduction problems, signs of previous heart attacks and some structural clues. What it misses is anything absent at that moment: intermittent palpitations often produce a completely normal trace between episodes. That's why symptom timing decides the test — intermittent symptoms usually need a worn monitor instead.
How much does a 24-hour heart monitor cost privately?
Typically £300–£500, covering fitting, the recording and a consultant's analysis of the full trace. Extended monitors worn up to 7 days run £450–£700 and suit symptoms that strike weekly or less. Prices vary by provider and region; check the analysis and report are included, since interpreting a day of heartbeats is most of the work.
Can a smartwatch replace a proper ECG?
Not quite. A smartwatch records a single lead — useful for flagging possible atrial fibrillation and logging when symptoms occur — while a clinical ECG records twelve leads and is interpreted by a clinician. Watch alerts also generate frequent false alarms. Treat the watch as a symptom diary that strengthens the case for a 12-lead trace or an ambulatory monitor, not a substitute.
Does health insurance pay for private ECG tests?
Yes, when the ECG investigates new symptoms — palpitations, dizziness, an irregular pulse — on a clinician's recommendation and your policy has outpatient or diagnostics cover, subject to your excess. Several insurers offer fast-track diagnostic services that arrange testing within days. Monitoring an arrhythmia diagnosed before you joined is typically excluded as pre-existing.
What happens if my private ECG is abnormal?
The consultant's report grades the finding and goes to you and your referrer. Many abnormalities are benign variants needing nothing; genuine findings route to a cardiologist — privately via insurance or self-pay, or back through your NHS GP with the trace already done, which often shortens the NHS pathway. A private ECG never affects your NHS entitlement.
What is an exercise ECG and when is it worth paying for?
It's an ECG recorded while you walk on a treadmill under controlled, supervised load, typically £250–£500 privately. It suits symptoms that appear only on exertion — chest tightness, breathlessness or palpitations when pushing hard — which a resting trace will never capture. A clinician should recommend it, since chest-pain work-ups increasingly use other tests such as CT imaging first.