Background

The sentiment expressed by John Kerrigan, one of the UK founders, is typical of the motivation of everyone at MyQuestionsMatter.

“ I had worked within the health care field for years and, despite having minimal interaction as a patient, felt comfortable in my ability to get the best out of a consultation. It was not until my Dad became seriously ill after suffering a heart attack that I realised how wrong my assumption had been. As Dad became progressively more ill I knew that my knowledge should have enabled me to help my parents find out everything they needed to about Dad’s illness. It didn’t. My Dad died just two years after retirement. I felt unable to help my parents ask the questions that really mattered during that time and realised that other people might benefit from useful questions in the future.”

John’s personal account is similar to the experience of many of us. We see a GP on average four times per year, yet many people are dissatisfied with their experience of the service (over one quarter of people are dissatisfied with their local doctors’ surgery and almost half are dissatisfied with their dental practice).

Researchers have found that helping patients ask questions with question prompt sheets can improve their experience of treatment. MyQuestionsMatter has been established to help improve the interaction with health professionals in positions of responsibility.