ECG and Private Cardiology in Hampstead

You should not have to wait months to understand your own heart.

Yet for most people in south-west London who notice a skipped beat or a racing pulse and visit their GP, the path to a cardiologist runs through a waiting list. Twelve to eighteen weeks is routine for a non-urgent NHS cardiology referral. In that time, the question does not go away. It waits with you.

This Tuesday, not this winter

OpenPalp offers a focused private palpitations assessment in Hampstead, available on Tuesday mornings. Not weeks from now. Not after a referral letter that sits in a pile. This Tuesday, if there is an appointment.

The assessment is deliberate and narrow. We do not offer general cardiology here. We offer one specific pathway: palpitations in low-risk adults, assessed properly, with optional ECG and home rhythm monitoring, and supported by a self-guided lifestyle booklet. That specificity is a feature, not a limitation. A focused service for a specific problem is often more useful than a general one.

What we offer

The free clinic appointment includes:

• A focused clinical consultation — your symptom history, triggers, pattern, and impact on daily life
• Cardiovascular examination
• Risk stratification: identifying who needs urgent referral, who can continue with the pathway, and who falls outside the scope of this pathway
• Written clinical summary you can share with your GP

Two optional add-ons are available if you want them — there is no obligation:

• 12-lead ECG (£49) — a standard resting 12-lead ECG on the same visit, with written interpretation by Dr Ahmad
• Home rhythm monitor (£70) — a KardiaMobile loaned for one week, with the OpenPalp self-guided booklet

If the assessment identifies any features requiring urgent evaluation or NHS investigation, you will be told clearly and immediately, with guidance on next steps. This service does not replace emergency or urgent care. It complements the significant gap that exists for non-urgent but genuinely distressing symptoms.

Where we are

Appointments take place at SF Studios, Hampstead.

SF Studios is in Hampstead. Tuesday morning appointments run from 9:00 to 12:00 — designed so that you do not need to take time off work.

and the surrounding areas — Raynes Park, Merton Park, Colliers Wood, South Hampstead, Mitcham, Tooting, Balham, and Kingston — are all within straightforward reach. If you can get to Hampstead, you can access this service.

Your clinician

The assessment is conducted by Dr Mahmood Ahmad, Specialist in Cardiology (SAS grade — a senior NHS specialist role), MRCP(UK), GMC number 6071047. Dr Ahmad trained in cardiology within the NHS and has specialist experience in heart rhythm assessment and palpitation management.

You can verify Dr Ahmad’s GMC registration at gmc-uk.org at any time. Transparency about who is seeing you and what qualifications they hold is not optional in medicine. It is basic.

What it costs — and how that compares

The clinic appointment is free. If you want it, a 12-lead ECG on the same visit is £49. Home rhythm monitoring — a KardiaMobile loaned for one week, with the self-guided booklet — is £70. Both are optional add-ons with no obligation.

A standard private cardiology appointment in London typically costs £200–£350 for the initial consultation alone, before any investigation, monitoring, or follow-up. Extended Holter monitoring and interpretation, if arranged separately, adds further cost.

OpenPalp keeps it simple: a free clinic, with two clearly priced optional add-ons. There are no hidden charges, no follow-up consultation fees, and no referral fees.

The turning point

Waiting has a cost that does not appear on any invoice. It is the cost of low-level dread, of interrupted sleep, of the moment during exercise when you wonder whether you should stop. It is months of not knowing.

“The question is not whether you can afford to be seen. The question is whether you can afford to keep waiting.”

For most people with palpitations, the most likely outcome of a thorough assessment is reassurance backed by data — a normal rhythm at the moment of symptoms, or a pattern of benign ectopics that is well-understood and manageable. That reassurance is worth something. Especially when it arrives this Tuesday, not next winter.