When Stu’s tumour was discovered in January 2021, we didn’t know that getting another specialist to look at his scans was something we could do. We waited for the referral, the MDT and the appointment we had been given because we assumed that was just how it worked. From Stu’s diagnosis to seeing the neurosurgeon took 14 days. Knowing what I know now, I would have spent some of that time getting his MRI in front of another specialist.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

A second opinion is another healthcare professional reviewing your diagnosis, scans, pathology or proposed treatment and giving you their view. It doesn’t necessarily mean changing doctors or rejecting the advice you have already been given. Sometimes a second opinion will confirm exactly what your existing team has told you. Sometimes another specialist may have a different view. Current NICE guidance says patients should know that they can ask for a second opinion from a different healthcare professional and, if necessary, be told how to go about it. The GMC also says doctors must respect a patient’s right to seek a second opinion.

There is a distinction between being able to ask for a second opinion and having an automatic right to any particular specialist or NHS-funded referral. If you want another opinion within the NHS, speak to your consultant or GP about how this can be arranged.

With an aggressive brain tumour, it is also worth asking whether waiting for another opinion could delay treatment and whether that delay would be clinically significant. The point isn’t to collect as many opinions as possible. It is to make sure you have the information you need to make decisions about your care.

GETTING ANOTHER OPINION

There are different ways of doing this. You can ask your existing NHS team or GP about a referral to another specialist or centre. In that situation, your medical information will usually be shared between the professionals involved. You can also independently approach another specialist, including privately, and ask whether they will review your case. That distinction mattered to us.
At one point, when we wanted another opinion about Stu, his first consultant wanted to write to the doctor we were approaching. I understand why clinicians communicate with each other and there are very good reasons for them to share information. But for us, at that particular moment, it rather defeated the point. We wanted another specialist to look independently at Stu, his scans and his tumour and tell us what they thought.

That doesn’t mean the two doctors could never communicate, or that relevant medical information shouldn’t be shared. It just means that if what you want is a genuinely independent review before the second specialist hears the existing clinical opinion, it is worth saying that clearly when you approach them and asking how their process works.

WHAT THEY MAY NEED

If you are seeking another opinion, the specialist may need copies of your MRI or CT images and reports, pathology and molecular results, clinic letters and information about treatment you have already received. What is required will depend on what you are asking them to review.

We learnt quite quickly how useful it was to keep our own copies of Stu’s medical information. We had scans, reports and results stored digitally and got very well acquainted with Dropbox and WeTransfer. We also kept a spreadsheet of relevant information so that when someone asked us for something, we knew whether we had it and where to find it.

You do not need to become a medical secretary the minute someone is diagnosed with a brain tumour. But I would ask early how to obtain copies of scans, reports, pathology and clinic letters and keep them somewhere organised.

OUR EXPERIENCE

Stu’s tumour was discovered after a CT scan in A&E in Gloucester on a Friday afternoon. The doctor looking after him suspected glioblastoma and Stu remained in hospital over the weekend on steroids while his case was referred to a specialist brain tumour team.

We didn’t understand then that there might be anything useful we could do while we waited. His case needed to go through the specialist pathway and, from the tumour being discovered to seeing the neurosurgeon we had been referred to, 14 days passed.

We were subsequently told that Stu’s tumour could not be resected and he had a biopsy instead.
Later we found Professor Andrew McEvoy in London and, later still, another surgeon who believed surgery might be possible. By then Stu’s tumour was stable on treatment and the decision was made to continue with that treatment rather than operate.

I cannot tell you that having another neurosurgeon look at Stu’s original scans earlier would have changed what happened to him. I don’t know that, and nobody can know it now. What I do know is that I wish we had understood from the beginning that we could ask another specialist to look.

As Stu’s treatment continued, we also sought other opinions about his oncology care and within the six week treatment plan we consulted Dr Matt Williams privately before transferring Stu’s NHS oncology care to his team. Over time we became much more comfortable asking questions, approaching specialists and seeking expertise outside our immediate team.

It was a very different way of navigating Stu’s care from those first two weeks, when we waited because we didn’t know there was another option.

HINDSIGHT

WHAT WE KNOW NOW THAT WE WISH WE’D KNOWN THEN

If we were back in January 2021, I would ask for copies of Stu’s MRI images and reports as early as possible. I would ask when his case was being discussed, what happened next and whether the timescale could affect any of the decisions being made. And where there was a major decision such as whether surgery was possible, I would consider getting those original scans in front of another specialist sooner rather than waiting until much later in Stu’s treatment.

I would also be clearer about what we were asking for. Sometimes we wanted another opinion within Stu’s wider care. At other times we specifically wanted someone to look independently at the information in front of them before hearing what another doctor thought.

Most of all, I wish we had known what questions were available to us. You cannot ask a question you don’t know exists.

CURRENT INFORMATION · 2026

NICE

NICE guidance on patient experience in adult NHS services says patients should know that they can ask for a second opinion from a different healthcare professional and, if necessary, how to go about getting one. It also says patients should be given information about relevant treatment options and services they are entitled to, even when these are not provided locally.

General Medical Council
The current Good medical practice guidance says medical professionals must recognise a patient’s right to choose whether to accept their advice and respect their right to seek a second opinion.

Brainstrust
Brainstrust has brain-tumour-specific information about second and further opinions, including obtaining copies of scans and finding appropriate specialist expertise.

Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan provides practical information about seeking another cancer opinion and things to consider before doing so.

For individual specialists and information about finding doctors with relevant expertise, see our Doctors page.

This site shares our lived experience and the information we wish we had known. It is not medical advice and should not replace advice from your own medical team.

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