The cornerstone of medical diagnosis is the history and you may be asked detailed questions about you medical history, even if this is all summarised in your GPs letter. Some people bring a typed history summary and this may be helpful, but reading this is not as useful as actually talking over the history with the patient.

If you come to me as a Private Patient I will often have a bit more time to go through things.

The physical examination is not as important now as it was before we had echocardiography so do not be surprised if this is omitted or rather brief.

Various tests can be performed but these are often open to interpretation according to the history; usually medical diagnosis is not just a matter of doing a test and being told the result.