Knowledge centre

Patient guides

Practical guides for preparing for appointments, organising records and taking part in decisions about your care.

Preparation · 5 min read

Preparing for a specialist appointment

Bring a written symptom chronology, a complete medication list including over-the-counter and herbal products, and no more than five prioritised questions.

Record onset, duration, severity, aggravating and relieving factors for your main symptoms. Precise chronology often changes the differential diagnosis more than any single test.

List every medicine with dose and frequency, plus allergies and the reaction that occurred. Anticoagulants, corticosteroids, immunosuppressants and herbal preparations are the ones most often missed.

Ask what the diagnosis is, how confident the clinician is, what the alternatives are, what happens if you do nothing, and what would prompt an urgent review.

Records · 5 min read

How to request copies of your medical records

Under UK and EU data protection law you have a right of access to your health records, normally within one month and without charge.

Request the radiology and histopathology reports, discharge summaries, clinic letters, laboratory results and MDT outcome notes. Imaging itself can usually be supplied on disc or via secure transfer.

Reports are more useful to a reviewing specialist than image files alone, because they carry the reporting clinician's interpretation and comparison with prior studies.

These articles are general education reviewed by our clinical editorial team. They are not tailored to your circumstances and do not constitute medical advice, diagnosis or a recommendation to start, stop or change any treatment.