Dr Magdalena Sajnach-Menke
Dr Magdalena Sajnach-Menke is a paediatric and fetal cardiologist with over 20 years of clinical experience, 15 of them in the UK. She sees children and young people from birth to 18 years of age at Luxmedica, 43 High Street, Ealing.
An initial consultation with ECG lasts 30 minutes and costs £190. A consultation with ECG and echocardiogram lasts 40 minutes and costs £340. A private paediatric cardiology appointment needs no GP referral, and you book it by calling 0203 757 9999.
Consultations at Luxmedica run in Polish and English.
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Experience and clinical approach
Dr Magdalena Sajnach-Menke is a specialist in paediatric cardiology with over 20 years of clinical experience gained in Poland and the United Kingdom. She has worked in the NHS for the past 15 years, diagnosing and managing heart conditions in children, congenital heart disease above all.
She works at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, across the Freeman Hospital and the Royal Victoria Infirmary. She runs a weekly screening fetal echocardiography list there and a separate clinic for parents expecting a baby with a heart condition. She is an Associate Clinical Lecturer at Newcastle University, in the Children’s Heart Unit.
Alongside her NHS role she provides private cardiology consultations in the UK and in Poland. She cares for Polish- and English-speaking children and their families.
She sees children and young people from birth to 18 years of age. She assesses heart murmurs, chest pain, palpitations, fainting and dizziness, heart rhythm abnormalities, abnormal blood pressure, and congenital and acquired heart conditions.
Depending on the clinical indication she provides:
- echocardiography (heart scan) for children and young people aged 0-18,
- fetal echocardiography from around 15 to 16 weeks of pregnancy, which assesses the structure and function of the fetal heart and diagnoses congenital heart conditions before birth,
- ECG,
- ambulatory ECG (Holter) monitoring,
- ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.
She works to keep the appointment calm and the explanation clear. A suspected heart problem in a child, or an abnormality found in a baby’s heart during pregnancy, worries parents deeply. So she goes through the findings carefully, answers questions and sets out the recommended next steps.
Alongside clinical work she carries out academic research. She holds a Master’s degree in Health Research and is undertaking a PhD in Health Sciences at the University of Stirling. Her research looks at how digital technology supports young people with congenital heart disease as they move from paediatric care to adult cardiology.
Her published work includes a paper on the diagnostic value of the paediatric exercise tolerance test, published in “Cardiology in the Young” in 2017.
Paediatric cardiology consultations
A paediatric cardiology consultation covers the history, a physical examination and an ECG. The first appointment lasts 30 minutes and costs £190, ECG included.
The most common reason for the appointment is a heart murmur picked up by a GP or paediatrician. Most murmurs in children are innocent, but only a cardiology assessment with an echocardiogram tells them apart. Beyond murmurs, parents come with chest pain, palpitations, fainting, abnormal blood pressure and heart rhythm problems.
The most common congenital heart defects in children are a ventricular septal defect (VSD), an atrial septal defect (ASD) and a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). An echocardiogram shows whether a defect is present, how large it is, and whether it needs treatment or only monitoring.
We perform the echocardiogram at the same appointment where the clinical indication calls for it. A consultation with ECG and echocardiogram lasts 40 minutes and costs £340. A consultation with echocardiogram and report costs £310, and an echocardiogram with report on its own £280.
A private paediatric cardiology consultation in London usually costs between £250 and £350, with the ECG and echocardiogram sometimes invoiced separately by the hospital. Here £190 covers the consultation and ECG, and £340 covers the consultation, ECG and echocardiogram. You know the figure before the appointment.
We arrange Holter monitoring when symptoms come and go and a standard ECG misses them. ECG Holter costs £190 for 24 hours, £220 for 48 hours, £250 for 72 hours, £270 for 7 days and £290 for 14 days. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring over 24 hours costs £180.
When to call for help instead of booking: fainting during exercise, chest pain on exertion, blue lips or skin, breathlessness at rest, or palpitations that end in a collapse. These need urgent assessment. Call 999 or 111 rather than waiting for a private appointment.
You leave the appointment with a diagnosis and a plan. A consultation report costs £70 and a repeat prescription £60. A follow-up consultation lasts 20 minutes and costs £150.
Fetal echocardiography
Fetal echocardiography is an ultrasound scan that assesses the structure and function of a baby’s heart before birth. Dr Sajnach-Menke performs it from around 15 to 16 weeks of pregnancy.
The scan diagnoses congenital heart disease prenatally, while there is still time to plan delivery in a centre with paediatric cardiology and to prepare the parents.
The standard window for the scan in a pregnancy at increased risk of congenital heart disease is 18 to 22 weeks, under the British Congenital Cardiac Association standards of 2021. Where a parent or sibling has a major heart defect, the scan can be done as early as 12 to 14 weeks; where nuchal translucency measures 3.5 mm or more, BCCA recommends offering it by 16 weeks. Any scan performed before 16 weeks is repeated between 20 and 22 weeks.
Referrals come from an abnormal view of the heart on a routine obstetric scan, a heart defect in a parent or sibling, maternal diabetes, certain medicines taken during pregnancy, and raised nuchal translucency.
On any of these findings the NHS must refer for specialist assessment, free of charge and to a set timescale. A private fetal echocardiogram runs alongside that route rather than replacing it: it shortens the wait and lets you choose the appointment, and the NHS pathway stays open.
The NHS checks the baby’s heart as part of the anomaly scan between 18+0 and 20+6 weeks. A fetal echocardiogram with a cardiologist is the detailed, heart-specific examination, performed where the risk of a heart defect is raised.
A private fetal cardiac scan in London costs between £300 and £850. For an appointment and a quote with Dr Sajnach-Menke, call 0203 757 9999.
How to prepare for the appointment
Bring your child’s medical records and a description of the symptom you are coming with. Both decide which tests the cardiologist orders on the day.
- The Red Book or its equivalent, if you have it.
- A letter from your GP or paediatrician, if your child was referred. It is not required, but it shortens the history taking.
- Results of earlier heart tests: ECG, echocardiogram, Holter, hospital discharge summaries.
- A list of medicines with doses.
- Notes on the symptoms: how long they have lasted, what brings them on, whether they appear on exertion.
Your child does not need to fast. An ECG and an echocardiogram are painless and need no preparation.
Bring a bottle or a dummy for a baby. An echocardiogram is easier to perform while a child is settled or asleep.
No GP referral is needed. You book a private paediatric cardiology appointment yourself, without going through your GP and without an entry in your NHS record.
The appointment, the scan and the explanation of the findings run in Polish or in English, whichever suits the child and the parents. A child who speaks English at school and Polish at home does not have to translate the consultation for their parents.
Adults are seen at Luxmedica by cardiologist Dr Bartosz Olechowski. Paediatric cardiology and adult cardiology are separate specialties, and a child’s heart is measured against different norms than an adult’s.
Book on 0203 757 9999. We are at 43 High Street, Ealing, W5 5DB, London.
Pricing: Dr Magdalena Sajnach-Menke
These prices apply to cardiology consultations for children and young people up to 18 years of age. The £190 consultation covers the examination and an ECG. The echocardiogram is a separate, longer appointment: £340 with consultation and ECG, or £310 with consultation and report. A written consultation report costs £70. Fetal echocardiography is quoted individually, by phone. The clinic’s full price list is on the pricing page.
Initial consultation with ECG (30 min) £190
Follow-up consultation (20 min) £150
Consultation with echocardiogram and report (40 min) £310
Consultation with ECG and echocardiogram (40 min) £340
Echocardiogram with report (30 min) £280
BP Holter 24h £180
ECG Holter 24h £190
ECG Holter 48h £220
ECG Holter 72h £250
ECG Holter 7 days £270
ECG Holter 14 days £290
Consultation report £70
Repeat prescription £60
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Make an appointment
Call us: 0203 757 9999
Monday – Saturday: 9:00 – 20:00
Saturday 9:00 – 21:00, Sunday 9:30 – 16:00
