Advice for going to the GP

If you’re concerned you might have symptoms of cancer, then you should make an appointment to speak to your GP.  

When you make the appointment, you will need to briefly explain what the appointment is for. You can use this time to explain what the symptom is and, if you feel comfortable to, you can also mention that you’re concerned it might be cancer.  

The five most common signs of cancer in young people are: 

1. Lumps and swellings
2. Unexplained tiredness
3. Persistent pain
4. Mole changes
5. Unexplained weight change

If you want to make an appointment to see your GP, you will need to make sure you’ve registered with a GP surgery close to where you live. 

You can use the NHS Find a GP service to find your closest GP surgery. This will show you a list of the GP surgeries closest to you and should also tell you whether they’re accepting new patients or not. You’ll be able to find the surgery’s website, phone number and address here so you can get in touch to register.  

If you have recently moved away from home, then it’s important to register with a GP in your new area. This means you can access health services easily in your new area.  

It’s important to remember to do this if you’re moving away for university too so you can get medical help while you’re studying. You can find out more about getting medical care as a student on the NHS website. 

Different GP surgeries will have different ways of making an appointment. Some you will need to call, and others might have an app they use where you can give some information about your concerns and they’ll get back to you.  

If you’re registering with a new GP, it’s worth asking them what the best way is to make an appointment when you need one. 

It’s really important that you give your GP as much information as possible about your concerns. You can use notes and it’s completely fine to read from these to remind yourself when you’re talking to the doctor.  

Not all GP appointments will be in person, you might speak to your GP on the phone or via video call first. Even if you’re not speaking to your GP in person it’s still really important to give as much information as possible. You can also ask to share photos of your symptoms if you think it will help you explain your concerns. You can ask the GP the best way to share these pictures.  

You don’t need to use medical language when speaking to your GP. They will understand what you’re saying, and if not they should ask you some questions to make sure they know exactly what you mean. 

If your doctor tells you something or asks you a question you don’t quite understand, you can ask them to repeat it or explain it a different way.  

Your GP will ask you questions about why you’re there, what you’re worried about, how long it’s been going on and how it’s making you feel. You should try and give as much information as possible when you answer these questions. You can find out more about the details that are helpful to include on our symptoms pages here. 

Depending on your symptoms, the GP might want to examine the area where the problem is. Sometimes this might mean you have to take some of your clothes off so they can see the area properly. If you do have to take any clothes off, the GP should always give you privacy while you do this, and you should only have to take your clothes off to show the specific areas. 

According to the General Medical Council (GMC) if you do need to have an examination like this, your GP should also always offer you a ‘chaperone’. This is another member of staff who will be in the room at the same time as you’re having the examination.  

Your GP should always explain why they are doing the examination and what they’re looking for. They should also give you a chance to ask any questions you might have about the examination. You can always ask for an examination to be stopped at any point if you don’t feel comfortable or you’re in pain. 

If you would like some support during your appointment, you can always take someone with you. This should be someone you trust and feel comfortable talking about your symptoms with – this could be a family member, or a friend.  

You might like to ask this person to make notes for you during the appointment so you can focus on what the GP is saying and ask any follow-up questions you might have.  

You might want to give the person you take with you a copy of your notes about your symptoms as well. This means they can remind you of anything you might forget during the appointment.  

If you’re worried about forgetting anything the GP tells you, you can ask if you can do a voice recording of your appointment. It’s really important you check with your GP that they’re happy for you to do this beforehand.  

If you don’t feel like you’ve had enough time to fully discuss your symptoms with your GP, you can book another appointment. You can usually do this with the receptionist as you’re leaving your appointment. If you’re concerned about not having enough time, you might be able to ask for a double appointment when you first book your time, but this might not always be possible.  

If you’re not happy with the response that you’ve had about your concerns, you are allowed to ask for a second opinion. This means seeing another GP at the same practice. You don’t need to ask the GP for this, you can speak to the practice receptionist who should be able to book you another appointment. 

If you do this and speak to another GP, then you will need to explain your symptoms in full again, so it’s worth taking the same notes with you. If you want to, you can also explain why you wanted to see someone else.   

If you feel comfortable, it might be worth asking the question ‘Could it be cancer?’. If your GP says they don’t think it is, you might consider asking one or more of the follow-up questions:  

• Why don’t you think it’s cancer? 
• What should I do if my symptoms don’t get any better? 
• When should I come back again? 
• Is there any medication that would help ease my symptoms? 

You can also explain that you’ve read the information on this page and this is why you wanted to speak to someone about your symptoms. If you take your phone with you, you can show them the information here that made you want to speak to them.  

If English isn’t your first language, you might be worried about understanding everything the doctor is asking you, or telling you.  

You are entitled to request an interpreter to come to your appointment as well, so they can translate everything the GP is telling you, and help you communicate with the GP. This also applies if you use British Sign Language (BSL) and need a BSL interpreter to support you in your appointment. 

You don’t have to pay for this or organise it yourself. You will need to let the GP surgery know before your appointment that you’ll need an interpreter, and they will arrange for someone to come to the appointment, either in person or over a video call.  

This is something that you’re entitled to have. Guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC) says that ‘all possible efforts must be made to ensure effective communication with patients’. This specifically includes communication in languages other than English. 

If your GP wants to understand more about why your symptoms are happening and why you’re feeling the way you are, they might send you for some more tests.  

If they want to find out whether your symptoms might be cancer, they will refer you to a specialist. On this referral you should see a specialist within two weeks of your appointment with the GP. This is so they can find out as soon as possible whether your symptoms might be related to cancer, or so they can rule this out and find out what else might be causing your symptoms. 

You can find out more about this on the NHS website.  

If your GP says they’re going to refer you for further tests, then it’s worth asking the following questions:  

• What are the next steps? 
• What tests will I be having? And what are these tests looking for? 
• When will I get my test results? 
• Who do I contact if I don’t hear about my test results? 
• When should I hear about my next appointment? 
• What should I do if I don’t hear about my next appointment? 

Depending on what symptoms you have, you might have tests like an X-ray, a CT scan or an endoscopy (where they look inside your body with a camera) so they can try and find out more. 

If you are referred to a specialist, it doesn’t mean you definitely have cancer but it’s important to find out what’s wrong. Further tests should be able to confirm or rule out cancer and find out what is causing the problem. 

Remember, you know your body better than anyone, so if you’re worried about any changes or unusual symptoms then it’s best to see your GP and get it checked out.