The NatureDoc Approach
Welcome to NatureDoc Clinic! We are a close-knit team of UK-wide Nutritional Therapists and Naturopaths who all follow an evidence-based Functional Medicine approach to nutrition and wellness using personalised laboratory testing.
We offer bespoke and individualised nutrition advice as everyone is unique and has their own health story. We are there to work with you and to help you to implement a nutrition, supplement and lifestyle plan to reach your own goals. We work at your own pace and suggest changes that you feel you can easily weave into your busy life. Working together over time our aim is for you or your child to become the best version of yourselves.
Our NatureDoc clinical team specialise in nutrition and lifestyle support for women’s health and hormones; paediatrics (babies, children, teens and young adults); as well as chronic gastrointestinal, neurological, inflammatory and autoimmune support for all genders and ages. We also have a clinical team with a primary interest in neurodiversity and mental health for both adults and children.
All our practitioners have trained in nutrition and/or naturopathy for at least three years and obtained a diploma or BSc at a reputable UK nutrition college prior to joining the NatureDoc team. Some of the team have also obtained an MSc in nutrition as well as holding other functional medicine and nutrition-related qualifications.
Lucinda Miller is the clinical lead of NatureDoc and her hand-picked practitioner team all follow her mentoring programme for their first 18 months at NatureDoc. The team also attend weekly team mentoring sessions as well as attend other CPD training events to ensure that all our lovely clients receive the best quality care and continuity from everyone in the team. Lucinda always has a long waiting list for new clients, but she can supervise and provide clinical oversight for the other practitioners if needed.
The continuing education and collaborative learning from each other means that our knowledge is always up to date and relevant. We are extremely proud of the calibre and empathy of all our practitioners and the quality of care they deliver.
The Booking Process
Consultation bookings and pricing enquiries can be made through our telephone booking team on 020 3397 1824, who are there to make straightforward phone bookings 6 days a week. 8am-7pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am-5pm on Saturdays.
If you have more in-depth questions about what to expect, need to discuss which practitioner to book in with, or would like to chat about the costs and logistics of your consultation, then it is best to contact our wonderful reception team via email: [email protected]
Our reception team can then either email you back or arrange a telephone discovery call to talk things through in more depth. They are available during normal working hours Monday to Friday. Our receptionists can only provide an estimated cost of consultations, lab tests and supplements as this will vary considerably from person to person.
Each practitioner charges their own consultation rates, depending on experience and location and our booking team or reception team can advise on their current consultation fees.
Expect the first initial consultation to last for 1.5 hours (90 minutes) per person (60 minutes for babies under 12 months). Follow ups tend to be 60 minutes for the first one around 6 weeks later, and then 30 or 45 minutes thereafter as needed. Expect to work with your practitioner over several consultations to reach your nutrition and health goals.
Many of our clients have life-long chronic health conditions that can wax and wane, so we tend to work with them in the long term when new health niggles arise. Some clients like to check in with us for an annual “MOT”. Others simply come to us when they have a specific health roadblock that they are trying to unravel.
In person clinics are located as follows:
– Berkshire: Bradfield
– Cheshire: Knutsford
– London: Sloane Square, Chelsea and Parsons Green, Fulham
– Somerset: Bath
– Surrey: Godalming
– Warwickshire: Whichford
– Wiltshire: Newton Toney
All the other practitioners are currently offering virtual video consultations only, and are based in:
Tiverton, Devon; Alton, Hampshire; Leicestershire; Northamptonshire; Camberwell and Southfields in London; Shrewsbury, Shropshire; Witney, West Oxfordshire; Wallingford, Oxfordhsire; and Horsham in West Sussex.
We also have a NatureDoc practitioner in Dublin, Ireland and one in Cairns, NE Australia.
We will always need to meet you face to face or via video link at some point during the initial consultation (even small babies and young children need to be present for at least 5-10 minutes).
This is ideally achieved by a physical in-clinic face to face consultation. However, sometimes that just isn’t possible or sensible and virtual video consultations are easier. For example, you may find it difficult to travel, due to distance or disability or even school commitments. This is why we run a very busy virtual clinic via our secure video-link system.
We try to prevent children from missing out on their education as much as possible, so please arrange for another adult to pop them back into school/take them home once we have met them briefly at the start of the initial consultation. They do not need to attend the follow ups unless they would like to.
A video consultation is often much more accessible and flexible and is especially helpful for follow-ups.
How Many Consultations Should I Expect?
The first initial consultation is 90-minutes (60-minutes for babies under 12 months), which is a chance for you and your practitioner to get to know each other and to discuss your (or your child’s) health history and goals.
During this consultation they will also discuss lab testing options and initial diet changes and supplements and expected time frame.
You will then receive a personalised health plan written up afterwards within a week of the consultation summarising which changes to make initially.
You may then choose to have another 30-45 minute consultation over the next 2-3 weeks if you need more help with actioning the health plan or simply want to ask more questions. This is encouraged, especially if you have a complex health picture.
Expect to have regular 30-60 minutes consultations with your practitioner going forward, every 6 weeks or so and these can be set up more regularly if you feel you need that extra bit of support. Each time you will get an updated health plan if required.
If you are doing lab tests, then results follow up consultation will be a minimum of 60 minutes as many of these test results need a full explanation and personalised interpretation.
How many consultations needed is all very individual and will be guided by your practitioner. All follow up consultations are chargeable pro rata at your practitioners hourly rate.
Preparing For The Appointment
You will be sent email confirmation at the time of booking your appointment with a link to an online health history questionnaire. Please allow plenty of time to compete this questionnaire as it also includes diet, medication and supplement details which are very important to know prior to the appointment to prepare properly.
With the food supplement list please state which brand, dosage and how long you have been taking it, as well as the generic name.
You will also be asked to upload any pdf copies of past laboratory testing and reports from educational or medical specialists if you have them.
We also need a portrait photograph of the client for our records. Video footage of any specific behaviours in children is also very useful.
It is very important to complete the online health history questionnaire well in advance of your consultation and to provide as much detail as you can.
This includes the key diet and supplement/ medication sections. Timely completion of the health history means that your practitioner can prepare properly for the consultation and that the duration of the consultation is used optimally to provide well thought through nutritional interventions.
You will be sent a reminder email and a text message in the days running up to your appointment. If you do need to cancel or postpone your appointment for any reason, please give us as much warning as possible, as we run long waiting lists and many of our team have their own childcare costs and clinic rent to take into consideration. THANK YOU!
Typical Consultation Structure
The initial consultation will involve an in-depth discussion about you or your child’s health history (including family medical history), diet and lifestyle with the aim to pinpoint any specific triggers or indicators over a 90 minute consultation.
There will also sometimes be a health and development check which may include: iridology, tongue analysis, nail analysis, and abdominal check as well as a review of any recent laboratory testing. These physical tests vary depending on the person’s age and presentation as well as if the consultation is face to face or virtual. We have become very adept at finding ways over the screen to achieve carrying out some of the physical tests.
We will also provide insight on any blood test results or other lab work you have already sent over from a functional medicine perspective. You will also have a chance to ask specific questions about you or your child and it is good to prepare these in advance.
During the consultation your practitioner will gather up lots of information from you, and from this discussion will make a decision on any diet or lifestyle changes, food supplements to be taken or lab tests to be carried out which they will share with you and explain how to implement these easily.
After The Initial Consultation
We will send an individualised health plan via email within a week of the first consultation with details of further laboratory testing and any diet or food supplement changes to be made before the first follow up.
This health plan report is very individualised and ties together all the strands of our conversation during the consultation and can take between one and four hours to write up depending on the complexity of the case. This health plan writing time and the time taken to order up the lab tests is included in the first initial consultation fee.
This health plan report will give you full instructions of specific diet and lifestyle changes, exactly which food supplements to take (and how to buy them) as well as information on how to carry out the lab tests.
Laboratory Test Information
To pinpoint the root causes of a chronic condition it is important to run tests to understand what is driving your symptoms.
We offer a wide range of laboratory tests to investigate nutritional shortfalls, metabolic and cellular health, inflammatory pathway, genetics and gut microbiome testing.
We use a number of well established labs based in the UK, US and Germany including the following: Genova Diagnostics, Invivo Healthcare, Doctors Data, Vibrant Wellness, AONM, Precision Medical, Cyrex Laboratory, Mosaic Laboratory, Lifecode Gx, Viva Health, Medichecks, Bio-Diagnostics and Biovis. We also use other labs on an ad-hoc basis.
These include test panels for the following health markers:
– blood haematology and biochemistry
– vitamin and mineral profiles to include Vitamin D, ferritin, folate, B12, magnesium, copper, zinc and ceruloplasmin
– full thyroid screen: TSH, T4, T3, Reverse T3 and Thyroid Antibodies
– cardiovascular and other metabolic blood markers
– hormones (adrenal profile, oestrogen, testosterone, progesterone) including the DUTCH test
– comprehensive stool analysis and gut microbiome testing (yeast /candida, bacteria, viruses and amoebic parasites)
– overgrowth of small intestine bacteria (SIBO)
– food and environmental allergies (IgE) and food intolerances (IgG)
– histamine intolerance and mast cell activation indicators
– urinary mycotoxin test
– urinary environmental toxin test (heavy metals, pesticides, plastics, forever chemicals and mould)
– hair mineral analysis (for a heavy metal toxicity and a trace mineral check)
– gluten and casein urinary peptides
– urinary organic acids
– urinary amino acids
– chronic inflammation and oxidative stress
– mitochondrial metabolites
– folate, B12 and methylation
– genetic polymorphisms (SNPs)
– neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate)
– pyroluria/ kryptopyrrole
– oxalates
– viral and bacterial antibody titres (including tickborne illness)
We may also recommend other simple at-home tests suggested, including basal temperature testing and stomach acid assessments.
We cannot order up tests prior to your initial consultation. The UK regulations for our profession mean that we need to meet you or your child for an initial consultation before ordering up any tests. A very important part of this first consultation is assessing which tests need to be carried out so that you get the best outcome within your budget. Going forward after that your practitioner can order up repeat tests and then they will arrange a follow up consultation to discuss the results each time.
The laboratory tests will be ordered and the kits sent home for you to carry out at your convenience. These tend to be stool, urine, saliva and hair tests. If a blood test is required, we will advise on phlebotomy services close to your home or even a home visit.
Full instructions for payment, specimen taking and returns will accompany each test and it is important to read these in full prior to testing. It is your responsibility to pay for the tests, collect the samples and courier/post these back to the laboratories.
Your Lab Test Results Follow-Up
Test interpretation is often complex and involves many years of experience to be able to bring the results together into a easy to implement health plan. Interpretation also needs to be carried out in the context of the individual, taking into consideration current medications, diet, stressors and exercise.
Test results usually take between 10 working days and 6 weeks to turn around. A follow-up results consultation to analyse these results will therefore be 4-6 weeks after the initial consultation and will probably last one hour. During this consultation your practitioner will provide a full and comprehensive interpretation of your results and will share action points on how to rebalance any out-of-sync markers.
We will then put together a new health plan which may incorporate more tailored dietary interventions, lifestyle and exercise changes, herbal remedies and a food supplement regime. This is very personalised and can take a few hours to write up, so it may not be sent to you for a few days, and on busy clinic weeks or in more complex cases this can take up to a week.
In Between Consultations
We are more than happy for you to email 1-2 brief questions pertinent to your current health plan in between consultations, especially if this means you cannot progress without further clarification e.g. a supplement is out of stock, or a lab test needs to be re-ordered. We will try to reply to emails like this within 2-3 days. Please respect your practitioners time and please store up ALL other questions for the next follow up. We cannot provide ongoing detailed email support in between consultations.
Payment
Payment is always made at the time of the appointment with a credit/debit card (no American Express please) via the practitioner’s payment terminal. Please always remember to have your payment card to hand before you start the appointment, otherwise this time eats into the time set aside to talk about you and your health.
All laboratory testing is charged in addition to the initial appointment fee. In most cases these are paid directly to the laboratory involved when the test kits are ordered, but some do need to be paid for at the time of the appointment.
Food supplements are also an additional cost. A link to purchase each supplement suggested will be sent in the health plan. Many supplements can be purchased and dispensed through NatureDoc.Shop and we offer a special NatureDoc discount to registered clinic clients.
Frequently Asked Booking Question
Do I need to bring my child?
If the appointment is about your child’s health then we will always need to meet them at some point for a minimum of 5-10 minutes during the initial appointment. This is both a regulatory and ethical requirement, as well as an important part of their overall assessment.
Schools are usually very flexible about allowing children to attend our appointments during school hours. Your child only needs to meet their NatureDoc practitioner once and schools are usually very good at allowing a one-off appointment.
We appreciate young children can get wriggly and bored during a long appointment and sometimes a parent prefers to discuss sensitive issues out of earshot. In these situations, we advise that two adults attend the appointment and takes the child back home or out to play nearby after the first 10 minutes of the appointment.
If it is a virtual appointment your child will miss much less school/other therapies as they will not need to and from travel to the appointment. Time out of earshot can usually be more easily facilitated too. Sometimes the parent will arrange for another adult to pop them back into school after they have been assessed, which means they are out of school for a minimal amount of time.
Some parents arrange the initial appointment at the start of the school day, over lunchtime or near the end of the school day again to minimise disruption to their school day.
We have often carried out appointments whilst the parents and child are sitting in their car in the school car park – as long as the Wi-Fi connection is sound!
We are all parents ourselves, so unfortunately we are unable to arrange for the initial appointment to be after school or at weekends.
Your child does not need to attend follow-ups, but we would ideally meet them briefly annually, if long term support is needed.
How do your waiting lists work?
Some of our team currently have very long waiting lists. If you are keen to wait to see a specific practitioner, then please book an appointment in advance and then we will do our best to bring this forward. Please also be in touch with our reception team from time to time to check in to see if there has been a last-minute cancellation.
We totally respect your choice of practitioner. However, we much prefer someone to start their time with NatureDoc sooner and have the chance to start to rebuild their health before things get worse, rather than wait a longer time to be seen by a specific practitioner.
To remind you that we all work very closely together as an interactive team and share the same standards of care. Therefore, there is little reason to wait for a specific practitioner if there is another NatureDoc who can see you sooner.
Are your services covered by health insurance?
Most insurance companies do not cover our consultations, food supplements, or any functional lab testing. BUPA and AXA definitely don’t cover nutritional therapy, naturopathy or functional medicine in their UK health insurance policies. Invivo microbiome tests are however covered by Allianz Health and WPA Healthcare.
Some people with bespoke international insurance packages are covered for both consultations and tests and you will probably be aware of what is covered and what is not. You always need to check with your own insurance company if they cover any of the tests, we recommend through third party labs. You will need to pay your practitioner for the consultation or the lab for the test upfront and then claim back yourself.
What is the difference between nutritional therapy and nutrition coaching?
Our nutritional therapists will help to guide you with diet and lifestyle recommendations as well as food supplement choices and which tab tests to consider.
Our nutrition coach Amber will help you to implement these changes and will also help to create specific menu plans. She also helps with creating long term healthy habit changes. Amber will also help with any yoga, meditation and mindfulness questions.
If you need help with behavioural change in terms of eating for you or your child then Amber is the person to turn to.
I am taking some supplements already
We are happy to review your current supplements as part of a consultation.
However it is important that you give your practitioner full details of the name of each supplement, the brand, the dosage and how long you have been taking it prior to the consultation, written in the health history questionnaire or follow up questionnaire.
Much of the time you will be starting from scratch with us in terms of supplements and our recommendations override anything that you have been taking already.
Your practitioner will recommend a specific combination of new supplements that you need to take. We go to lengths to ensure you or your child are taking the right balance of nutrients and specific products are recommended. If you choose to take a different product instead of our recommendation, then you need to discuss this with your practitioner at your next consultation.
If you want us to assess supplements you have sourced yourself, have been recommended by another health professional or that you are considering taking, then we charge an additional fee for this service or we will suggest a consultation to discuss them.
Again we will need full details of the supplements prior to the consultation, so we can check interactions with the other supplements and medications being taken.
Can I send in previous test results?
If you have had blood tests of other functional medicine tests such as stool, urine, hair or saliva tests done prior to your consultation then please attach these results to your health history questionnaire in pdf format.
Please send them to us well ahead of your consultation, so your practitioner can prepare properly.
We take pride in our ability to interpret most results from multiple labs and in multiple languages.
Interpretation of these tests from a functional medicine perspective is very complex and also takes into consideration the context of the person’s health history as well as their current health.
A consultation with one of our practitioners is always needed to provide this service.
Do I need to bring specimen samples with me?
Please do not bring any specimen samples (urine/blood/stool/saliva/hair) with you to the consultation.
The initial appointment will focus on deciding the most appropriate testing for you or your child. All laboratory tests will be posted to you. They can be carried out in the comfort of your own home or through a phlebotomist close by to your home or work place.
If you are travelling into London and your or your child requires a blood test then we can probably arrange blood draw later on that day at The Doctors Laboratory, Wimpole Street, W1.
Acute or emergency care
We are primarily a nutrition and lifestyle clinic for people who need holistic support to help manage chronic health conditions.
Please respect that between consultations our clinical team are only able to provide input on your current health plan, specifically if any clarification is needed. It is best to book in a follow up consultation if you need to ask more questions.
This means that our clinical team cannot give additional support or advice for newly acquired or other unrelated acute health conditions or incidents that might occur in between your consultations such as infections or accidents.
Nor can we provide ad-hoc nutrition advice for other family members. They will need a separate consultation booked in.
However if you want to purchase any natural remedies, topical applications or food supplements you can find these at naturedoc.shop. If you need help selecting these please email us on [email protected]
If you are ever concerned for you or your child’s wellbeing, especially if their physical or mental health has declined rapidly, please always seek medical advice from a qualified doctor immediately. We cannot provide any emergency care or advice.
Can I have an appointment for the whole family?
If you would us to support your whole family for a health review we would be delighted to see you all.
This will involve separate initial consultations for each family member. We aim to keep a family under the care of one practitioner. However we may allocate the adults to one practitioner and the children to another depending on diary availability.
An initial appointment for a first family member will be 90 minutes and then each consequent family member we reduce to time of this initial consultation to 60 minutes. However once we have reviewed the completed health histories, this may change depending on the complexity.
We recommend that you only ever book two family members back to back for their consultations on one day and then book the other family members in for other times and dates.
Please contact us for more details on pricing.
Do you offer evening or weekend consultations?
Sorry we are unable to offer evening or weekend appointments at present.
This is mainly because we are all parents and we need to carve out this time to spend with our families.
See the other FAQ’s to see how we make it work during the day.
Do you see babies?
Yes we love to see babies from six weeks old.
We also have created a wide network of UK based osteopaths we can recommend and we do have some in-clinic cranial osteopaths who may also be able to support them.
Do you see International clients?
We welcome new clients from all around the world and work with people living oversees from the UK using our secure video telehealth system.
The only limitation we have is that we do not have insurance for the USA, so we cannot consult with anyone living in the US right now.
We can usually arrange for lab test kits and food supplements to be posted or couriered to most countries from our suppliers.
Please always take into consideration any time differences when arranging an appointment with one of our clinical team.
Please book an overseas appointment via email to our reception team rather than calling the booking number.
Do you see older patients?
Yes we have a number of elderly patients who benefit hugely from natural medicine.
Can I bring my other children?
For in person consultations within clinics, we need to ensure that the waiting area does not get overcrowded and noisy as this can cause problems with other patients or therapists in the building. Please therefore keep numbers of people attending the appointment to a bare minimum. Having any more people than absolutely necessary in a consultation room is also not ideal. Sometimes we see whole families at a time, but generally it is best to bring another adult who can keep other children occupied. There are open spaces and family friendly cafés very close to the clinics.
What if my child is very anxious about attending the appointment?
If your child has high anxiety levels, can be loud, or tends to wander, then please can you email us well in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.
Many parents are now choosing video calls over our secure virtual telehealth system as this is easier for the child.
Are you allergen-free?
We cannot guarantee that the clinic rooms are allergen free. If you or your child is extremely allergic to a specific food or environmental allergen then please book a virtual consultation.
Do you have disabled facilities?
Currently our clinics do not have wheelchair facilities so in these cases, a virtual consultation may be more appropriate.
Do you have toys and entertainment?
We have plenty of toys to keep your young child amused during the consultation, however you might want to bring a favourite toy or activity along with you. Some children who find it difficult to settle, find it comforting for their parents to bring an iPad.
What if I am running late?
If you are running late for an appointment please call us on 020 3397 1824 and our booking team will relay a message to your practitioner.
You can also text your practitioner a reply to your appointment reminder SMS.
