The Functional Gut Clinic, the UK’s leading provider of gastrointestinal physiology, has opened a new diagnostic hub within LIPS Healthcare, the seven‑day consultant‑led medical centre located inside the redeveloped Battersea Power Station.
The launch brings rapid access to advanced gut testing, specialist gastroenterology care and integrated pathways to ~3 million people living in London, Surrey and beyond who can access the clinic in just 30 minutes.
The launch comes at a critical time for patients across London and Surrey, where diagnostic waiting times remain under sustained pressure. Across both systems, gastroenterology patients often wait beyond the NHS six‑week diagnostic standard for tests.
Routine outpatient appointments frequently exceed the 18‑week Referral to Treatment (RTT) standard, with access to Gastroenterologists and GPs stretched across both regions. A 2025 UK population study found that 86% of adults experienced at least one digestive symptom in the past month, but as suspected cancer cases prioritised, patients with benign - but debilitating - gastrointestinal symptoms are seen much too late, delaying diagnosis and necessary treatment planning.
LIPS Healthcare has been a huge success since arriving in Battersea in July 2024, treating thousands of patients every year with private health insurance or willing to pay out of pocket in order to be seen faster and treated by some of the UK’s leading specialists. It delivers a unique consultant‑led medical ecosystem: combining private GP services, specialist clinics, diagnostics, advanced imaging and a newly launched consultant‑led urgent care centre under one roof. The centre operates seven days a week, offering seamless access to multidisciplinary services including cardiology, gastroenterology, metabolic medicine and women’s health.
Consultant Gastroenterologist and Therapeutic Endoscopist Professor Bu'Hussain (Bu) Hayee, widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading digestive health experts, is based at LIPS Healthcare Battersea and is excited for the partnership: “LIPS Healthcare and Functional Gut both have an international reputation in healthcare, known for bringing innovations in diagnostic and therapeutic advances to their patients. To bring our expertise together for the first time is hugely exciting and will benefit our gastroenterology patients greatly. Rapid access to reflux testing, a full suite of breath tests to pinpoint what’s driving IBS and state‑of‑the‑art microbiome analysis are all of high value to me as a clinician.”
The Functional Gut Clinic will complement LIPS Healthcare’s existing gastroenterology expertise, providing globally recognised, evidence‑based diagnostics for patients with digestive symptoms. The partnership enables rapid assessment and clearer care pathways, reducing delays for patients who might struggle to access specialist testing through conventional routes.
The Functional Gut Clinic will see patients suffering from symptoms like acid reflux, constipation, bloating, chronic diarrhoea, abdominal pain, faecal incontinence and complex or unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms. The Functional Gut Clinic will offer a full suite of specialist GI physiology tests at Battersea, including:
- Motility testing – assessing movement and emptying across the throat, oesophagus, stomach, colon and anorectal region
- Reflux testing – measuring acid and non‑acid reflux in the throat and oesophagus, including gastric pH monitoring
- Breath testing – including SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), H. pylori (urea breath test) and carbohydrate malabsorption
- Microbiome Clinic – stool microbiome analysis, gut permeability (“leaky gut”) assessment and constipation pathway evaluation
- Biofeedback therapies – gut‑focused hypnotherapy, pelvic floor retraining and techniques for abdominal distension, rumination and supragastric belching
The Functional Gut Clinic’s arrival at LIPS Healthcare represents a significant milestone in the organisation’s growth, bringing its national footprint to ten locations. Its three flagship clinics in Manchester, Cambridge and central London are complemented by seven satellite centres across the UK, including Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Kettering, Woking, Orpington and now Battersea.
“Opening a diagnostic centre inside Battersea Power Station is a landmark moment for Functional Gut - it’s one of the most impressive buildings in the country,” adds Professor Anthony Hobson, Clinical Director at The Functional Gut Clinic, “LIPS Healthcare offers a state‑of‑the‑art medical environment with exceptional transport links across the capital, Surrey and beyond. Bringing our advanced GI physiology services into this setting means more people can access the right tests at the right time, improving diagnostic accuracy and accelerating treatment pathways.”
