How to Be Your Own Health Advocate: Questions Every Patient Should Ask

For all of us, a health issue can often have a financial impact as well. A delayed diagnosis, unclear treatment plan or lack of proper follow-up can impact your health and sometimes affect your ability to work.

The economic scale of illness is significant. According to the Office for National Statistics, an estimated 148.8 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in the UK in 2025, an average of 4.4 days per worker.

In certain types of work, illness means disruption and occasionally missed potential opportunities, for example to grow or develop your business. In that context, understanding and navigating your own healthcare is very important. If you have the tools to ask the right questions to healthcare professionals, you can better understand what the results mean, which treatment pathways are available and what may happen next. Being able to plan for possible outcomes means you are better placed to make informed decisions about your health.

Here, we discuss the questions you should be asking medical staff, and where concerns may need to be raised if things don’t feel right.

First Appointments

When you visit a GP, attend A&E or meet with a specialist, asking the right questions will shape everything that follows, potentially even influencing assessment decisions. It’s always good to start with establishing the basics:

• What could be causing my symptoms?
• What conditions are you considering or ruling out?
• How urgent is this?
• What symptoms should prompt me to seek urgent help?
• Do I need further tests or a referral to a specialist?
• What is the expected timescale for tests, results or referrals?

These questions will allow you to get up to speed with what’s happening, and offer insight into the medical professional’s reasoning. By establishing potential diagnoses and timeframes, you will be able to leave the appointment with an understanding of how your medical issue may affect your health, and your ability to work and live your day to day life.

What Do the Results Actually Show?

Receiving a diagnosis can feel overwhelming, especially if it involves a serious illness or a long-term condition. It can also be confusing if medical language is used without explanation.

Questions to ask include:

• What is my diagnosis?
• Can you explain what this means in plain language?
• Which test results support this diagnosis?
• Are there other possible explanations for my symptoms?
• Do I need more tests?
• Who is responsible for following up the results?

Test results should not sit in the background unexplained. You are entitled to understand what has been found, what has not been ruled out and what happens next.

The NHS Constitution sets out the rights, pledges and responsibilities that apply to patients, the public and NHS staff. This includes the broad principle that patients should be involved in decisions about their care and given information in a way they can understand.

For those in many areas of work, diagnosis is also a planning issue. You may need to consider work commitments, insurance, and caring responsibilities or whether to adjust your workload. Clear information helps you make those decisions based on facts, rather than having to rely on assumptions and online research.

Treatment Options

Treatment decisions should not feel rushed or one-sided. Informed consent is a key part of safe healthcare. Before you agree to any treatment, you should make sure you are fully aware, by asking questions such as:

• What treatment are you recommending?
• Why is this the best option for me?
• What are the benefits?
• What are the risks or possible complications?
• Are there alternative treatments?
• What could happen if I choose not to have treatment now?
• How might this affect my work, mobility, independence or day-to-day life?

This is especially important if the treatment involves surgery, medication with significant side effects or treatment that may require a long recovery period.

Although doctors should be able to detail the risks, recovery and reasonable alternatives to allow you to make a meaningful choice about your treatment, this does not mean every outcome can be predicted.

Be sure to put contingencies in place for your work, income and home life where possible, particularly if your recovery takes longer than expected or your treatment plan changes.

Surgery and Hospital Care

If you are having surgery or an invasive procedure, it is reasonable to ask direct questions before the day of treatment, including:

• Who will carry out the procedure?
• Who will oversee my care afterwards?
• What will the procedure involve?
• How should I prepare?
• What side effects or symptoms should I expect?
• What symptoms would be unusual or urgent?
• How long is recovery likely to take?
• What should I avoid during recovery?

Hospital care often involves several people, including doctors, surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists and physiotherapists. Knowing who every member of the team responsible for your care is will make it easier to raise concerns.

Aftercare and Follow-Up

Follow-up is often where recovery is monitored and problems are identified. Ask:

• What follow-up appointments will I have?
• Who will contact me about the results?
• How will my recovery be monitored?
• Who should I contact if I have concerns?
• What symptoms mean I should seek urgent medical help?
• Are there any work, driving, travel or activity restrictions?

Aftercare is closely linked to return-to-work planning. For example, for those who are self-employed and business owners, the inability to operate as before may affect income and business continuity. A written discharge summary, medication list or follow-up plan is invaluable for understanding when you will be up and running at full strength. If anything is unclear, you should ask for it to be explained before you leave.

What if Something Does Not Feel Right?

You know your body better than anyone else. If symptoms worsen or feel inconsistent with what you have been told, it is reasonable to request a review, where you can ask:

• Could this be a complication or side effect?
• Should my symptoms have improved by now?
• Would a second opinion be appropriate?
• How do I raise concerns about my care?
• Is there an escalation route if I am worried?

Martha’s Rule acknowledges that the patient or family members could be the first people to notice signs of deterioration, and how important it is for staff to listen to, and act on, this information. NHS reporting in 2026 said the rule had led to more than 12,000 calls between September 2024 and February 2026, with more than 500 people moved to intensive or specialist care after rapid reviews.

The wider lesson is simple: asking for another review is not a criticism. It is part of safe care.

Keep Records

Good records help you understand your own care. They will also help if concerns arise later. Aim to keep:

• Dates of appointments
• Names and roles of doctors, surgeons, nurses and physiotherapists
• A note of symptoms and how they change
• Copies of letters, discharge notes and test results
• Details of medication changes
• Referral dates and expected timescales
• Notes of questions asked and answers given

If your care is later reviewed, records will show what happened and when. Medical records, are very important should concerns about your care need to be investigated, either via a complaint, internal investigation or should a clinical negligence case be pursued.

When Poor Care May Raise Legal Questions

There are situations where poor communication, delayed diagnosis, missed follow-ups or lack of informed consent lead to serious consequences. Medical negligence can arise where care falls below a reasonable standard and causes avoidable harm.

The impact may be physical, psychological and financial. A person may experience reduced independence, time away from work, loss of confidence in healthcare, or a diagnosed psychological injury such as trauma or depression.

Exploring what happened does not mean you are blaming individual doctors, nurses or other healthcare professionals. It means understanding whether the care provided met an acceptable standard and whether the harm could have been avoided.

People who remain concerned after reviewing their care may wish to speak to experienced medical negligence solicitors who, should there be a potential case, will review medical records, obtain independent expert evidence and explain what the evidence shows.