10 ways to get your GP to listen to you

DR RAJ PERSAUD, Harley Street consultant psychiatrist and author of The Mental Vaccine for Covid-19, gives his tips on how to be a savvy patient

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Ask your doctor what else might be possible. This is called the differential diagnosis and it's meant to be recorded after appointments. Tragic mistakes get made when clinicians gallop to a single verdict thinking patients don't want to be confused or scared.

Keep pressing, “OK, but what else might be possible?”

Ask the doctor to document the differential diagnosis in your notes.

This will prompt future clinicians to engage with possibilities and they know they're dealing with a savvy patient.

Write to your GP noting the differential diagnosis and asking that the possibility of serious conditions like cancer be ruled out.