For patients given the wrong diagnosis, the repercussions can be devastating.
Yet tens of thousands every year in the UK will be diagnosed incorrectly or mistakenly given a clean bill of health.
So if you’re not convinced by your doctor or consultant’s medical assessment, what are your options?
If you decide to go ahead with getting another opinion, first don’t worry about offending anyone.
‘It’s a normal concern to worry about – looking as though you don’t trust your original doctor’s opinion – but the NHS supports patients seeking second opinions, and it should not harm the relationship with your current healthcare provider,’ says Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association.
‘No one should ever feel embarrassed about putting their health first.’
The NHS supports patients seeking second opinions, says Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association
If you’re considering getting a second opinion, it’s vital to arrange it before any treatment starts, says Professor Karol Sikora, a leading oncologist
NHS patients don’t have a legal right to a second opinion, but under guidance from the General Medical Council, doctors ‘must recognise a patient’s right to choose whether to accept advice’ and ‘respect their right to seek a second opinion’, explains a spokesperson from Healthwatch England, an independent organisation that tracks healthcare services.
‘However, the patient will need to proactively seek this, which may involve, for example, going back to their GP to be referred to a different specialist.
This could delay your treatment or diagnostic tests, warns Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell, vice chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners. ‘Second opinions can be reassuring for patients unsure about a diagnosis or a treatment plan – but before seeking one, ensure you’ve received a thorough explanation from the doctor giving the first opinion, as sometimes more time to discuss can provide the answers and reassurance you’re looking for,’ he says.
Also, if you’re considering getting a second opinion, it’s vital to arrange it before any treatment starts – there’s no point getting halfway through treatment, adds Professor Karol Sikora, a leading oncologist based in London. ‘The best use of a second opinion is to verify or alter treatment plans before you start them.’
If you’re receiving care from a hospital consultant and would like a second opinion, Professor Sikora says it is best to ask them directly rather than going through your GP, as this will avoid administrative delays, and ensures relevant information is transferred.
And crucially, ask to be put in touch with an expert from a different hospital, he advises: ‘There’s no point getting a second opinion from another consultant in the same hospital because they would naturally agree with the suggested treatment plan. And it has to be an expert in your condition.’
He also says that ‘most second opinions will verify that what you’ve been told is OK, which provides tremendous peace of mind to the patient and their family’.
‘It’s fair enough to want to make sure your proposed treatment is correct, and consultants don’t mind or take it as an insult to their knowledge,’ he says.
Rachel Power agrees: ‘A lot of the time, getting a second opinion is about peace of mind, if the patient doesn’t feel they have the right information from their doctor to decide how to proceed. The benefit of getting a second opinion is that it can offer alternative treatment options, including doing nothing in certain cases.’
A second opinion is not just reserved for routine diagnosis and treatment, but can be available in some emergency situations too, under a new scheme known as Martha’s Rule. This gives patients and their families the power to obtain a second opinion and has already led to one in five patients who used it having a potentially life-saving change in treatment, according to data published in December.
This showed that in the first two months of the programme, being piloted in 143 hospitals, 14 people were transferred to intensive care units, while others were moved to high-dependency units, coronary care units, returned to operating theatres or had a significant change in their medication – after a second opinion was sought.
Merope Mills, whose 13-year-old daughter Martha died from sepsis in 2021, campaigned for the implementation of Martha’s Rule after the family felt their concerns about their daughter’s care were dismissed by doctors. A coroner stated that if she’d been transferred to intensive care earlier it might have saved her life. Under the scheme a different team in the same hospital carries out an urgent clinical review.
You can, of course, also look to the private sector to find a second medical opinion. ‘We receive lots of emails from people wanting to talk to a specialist about a recent diagnosis,’ says Dr Chris Smith-Brown, a clinical advisor to the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), which represents private health insurers.
The organisation’s website (phin.org.uk) has a database of specialists working in the private sector, with information including how many procedures a consultant has done, feedback from patients, whether they have NHS experience – and if they’re involved in research.
On this point it’s also worth looking up an expert’s research on Google Scholar (the academic version of Google), suggests Professor Sikora. ‘If you search the doctor’s name and ovarian cancer, for example, and they have published five or six papers – especially recent ones – on it, you can bet they’re an expert in ovarian cancer,’ he says. Similarly, look at what clinical trials they’re involved in.
If you’re self-funded you can pick any consultant and any hospital for a second opinion, says Dr Smith-Brown.
‘But private insurers will usually only cover certain hospitals and consultants, and will give you a list to choose from.’
Self-funded initial consultation fees range from around £150 to £250 for one appointment (but follow-ups might be slightly less).
‘If you’re having investigations or procedures done privately, you should always agree the full price in advance or get approval from your insurer before you proceed,’ he adds.
You can seek another opinion from a private hospital without telling your GP or consultant, as a referral isn’t always required, but Rachel Power advises against this.
‘It’s better that everyone is working together and is in the loop,’ she says.
In terms of sharing your NHS data with a private consultant, show them the information stored on your NHS app – which contains your health records, including any test results, allergies and medicines.
The app doesn’t include images from scans or detailed descriptions of reports from scans, but it’s your right to ask for copies of your full medical notes, including results from scans and blood tests, explains Rachel Power.
Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell, vice chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, says second opinions can be reassuring for patients
‘If you’re getting a second opinion the most important thing is to have the exact details of what treatment is being proposed, or has been given to you in the past, and any scans or other test results (if you can get the disc with the scan on it, even better) – the more information you can pass on, the better,’ says Professor Sikora.
‘Ideally send it over ahead of the appointment to give the consultant time to gather an opinion before meeting you, but someone with experience should be able to see what’s happening after going through it for a few minutes.’
You can even have diagnostic investigations done privately while you’re still on the NHS pathway, says Dr Smith-Brown.
‘You don’t necessarily have to turn off the NHS process. It’s good practice to let your NHS consultant know once you’ve been diagnosed, or if you’ve chosen to stay within private care, so they can adjust their records,’ he adds.
It’s important to note that private healthcare doesn’t cover everything, he says.
‘The NHS is there to support you, especially around conditions such as cancer, so I wouldn’t close off that pathway just because you’ve gone to a private hospital for a CT scan or something – you might still need them when you get the results, for example, and it could be something completely different to what you expected.’
Dr Patel-Campbell adds: ‘If a patient has consulted privately and then brings their diagnosis to the NHS, this can be accepted if the treatment recommendations are available on the NHS.
‘A private provider should not, therefore, run tests or scans and then send the patient back to their GP to interpret them.’
- For more information about getting a second opinion, contact the Patients Association’s free helpline on 0800 345 7115.
