This page covers some general advice for advocating for yourself at GP appointments that should be helpful no matter what issue you’re trying to resolve.
You can find the pages where we give more specific advice on issues with GPs here:
If you have any tips you’d like to share about what worked for you when self-advocating at the GP, please fill out our quick survey and help us improve our guides.
GP appointments can be quite short and sometimes stressful, so it can be helpful to bring a note of the key points you want to discuss or questions you want to ask on a piece of paper or on your phone.
This might be especially helpful for remembering technical details or quoting NHS protocols if you think your GP is not providing the care which you believe you are entitled to.
It can also be helpful to practice what you want to say beforehand, by yourself or with a friend, and decide on the key points you want to get across. You don’t have to memorise lines, and you might not get the time to cover everything you want to, but it can be helpful to have already put things into words if you find this more difficult under pressure.
Again, as GP appointments can be short and you may need to cover a lot of ground, it can be helpful to bring an organised folder of relevant documents, especially if you have a more complicated medical history. This can save time, and may prevent the need to book a follow-up appointment if your GP needs to see a particular document that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
Bring a pen and paper or your phone to make notes of important points that your GP mentions during your appointment. You don’t have to take notes about absolutely everything, just key details, dates, things you need to do, next steps, or anything you’re likely to forget.
It’s okay to double check these with your GP at the end of the appointment before you leave to make sure you’ve got everything right. Likewise, if you think something your GP has told you isn’t quite accurate, you might want to check you’ve heard what they said correctly so you can look it up when you get home, and so you have a record of an instance where they may have given you incorrect advice.
If you would prefer to record your appointment using your phone or other recording device, make sure you check this with your GP before recording and ask their consent to be recorded.
Some GPs can feel uncomfortable about this, so it may be helpful to explain why you want or need to record the appointment, for example if you would not be able to take notes at the same time as listening to your GP, or if you have issues with your memory. The British Medical Association says that “permitting a patient to record a consultation, who may otherwise struggle to remember or understand, is likely to amount to a reasonable adjustment requirement under equality legislation.”
If your GP is not comfortable with you recording or taking notes, make sure to ask them to take detailed notes of the session and send it to you afterwards. If you have trouble accessing your notes or medical records, see our page on advice related to trans admin for information on requesting your records.
In most cases it’s completely acceptable to bring someone else along with you to a GP appointment. This can a friend, partner, housemate, family member, support worker – whoever you feel comfortable having with you during appointments discussing your healthcare.
Sometimes GPs may ask the other person to leave for a moment if there’s something they want to speak to you about directly – it’s always okay to ask why this is necessary, and for them to be brought back in as soon as they can be. Likewise, you can also ask the other person to step out if there’s something you want to say to your GP that you don’t want them to hear for whatever reason, even if it’s only for a few moments.
You may just want the other person there to provide comfort or support, to take notes, confirm that you understood what the GP said, or to be a witness if you think your GP is acting unfairly or unprofessionally towards you. However, it’s also okay to ask them to help advocate on your behalf if this is something you struggle with, especially if you think you may get upset during the appointment.
It can be helpful to discuss the appointment with them beforehand, give them the context for the appointment and what you’re hoping to get out of it, tell them what’s been discussed in any prior appointments, and share any key points that you want them to raise on your behalf.
Some organisations offer advocacy services which help to ensure your voice is heard in appointments and address barriers you may face to accessing your rights. Advocates can help you prepare for appointments, raise points on your behalf, take notes for you, and check in with you during the appointment to make sure that you understand what’s being said and if you have any questions.
You can find advocacy services in Scotland using this tool. Advocacy services are usually free.
If you’re an LGBTQIA+ person aged 18-65 living in East Lothian, Midlothian or Edinburgh, then you can access CAPS Advocacy’s LGBTQIA+ individual advocacy service. You can find out more about the service and refer yourself to the service on their website here.
GPs have medical knowledge and expertise, but they cannot tell you how you feel or how you identify. Even if they’ve worked with trans or non-binary people before, it’s important to remember that everyone understands themselves and lives their life in a different way, and that differing from a GP’s expectations around what a trans person is like does not invalidate how you understand yourself.
It’s okay to tell your GP that you disagree with them, that you think that they’re wrong about something, that you think they’ve misunderstood something that you’ve said or something about your medical history.
GPs are often unfamiliar with referral pathways to gender identity clinics (GICs), what care GICs do and do not provide, and what their role is as a GP in providing gender affirming care. Because of this, they may sometimes provide you with incorrect or inaccurate information about gender related healthcare, which can delay or interfere with your care. Our page on advice for issues related to trans healthcare includes detailed information about the care you are entitled to, and how to explain this to your GP.
If for any reason it feels like one appointment isn’t enough to cover the issues that you wanted to discuss, it’s perfectly reasonable to request a follow-up appointment, or for the GP to follow-up with you or someone else in writing.
This may be because the appointment wasn’t long enough, you didn’t feel that your questions or concerns were adequately addressed, you felt like the GP didn’t take them seriously, or you felt overwhelmed or upset during the appointment.
You may also want to ask for a follow-up in order for your GP to take the time to improve their understanding of some aspect of your care, for them to write to another medical professional, or for them to find a more appropriate person or service to signpost you to.
If you feel like your GP themselves was the main barrier, then see our page on advice for issues related to complaints and poor treatment for information about changing GP.
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Scottish Trans is part of the Equality Network
Scottish Trans is the Equality Network project to improve gender identity and gender reassignment equality, rights and inclusion in Scotland. The Equality Network is a leading Scottish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality and human rights charity.
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