To the UK Government, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Integrated Care Systems

I am starting this petition because I have experienced first-hand how difficult it can be to get appropriate medical help when you have persistent symptoms and suspect you may have a chronic autoimmune or inflammatory condition.

For years, I have tried to get answers.

I attended appointment after appointment, but struggled to get an appropriate referral. I was told, in effect, that primary-care doctors did not necessarily have the specialist knowledge needed to investigate what I was experiencing. Yet despite this, it took years before I finally obtained a referral.

And then came another problem: the wait to actually see a specialist.

This is not simply frustrating. When someone is living with ongoing, unexplained symptoms, years of uncertainty can have a profound impact on their life.

And I know I am not the only person experiencing this.

We need a better system.

I am not asking for GPs to diagnose every autoimmune disease.

I am asking for a system in which patients with persistent symptoms that could indicate autoimmune or inflammatory disease are listened to, appropriately assessed and referred when specialist investigation is warranted.

Doctors cannot know everything. That is exactly why we have specialist services.

Patients should not have to spend years repeatedly explaining that something is wrong before they can reach the specialist who has the expertise to investigate it.

We need to make it easier for primary-care clinicians to recognise when further investigation or specialist referral may be appropriate.

I am calling for:

•  Better training and education for GPs and other relevant primary-care professionals on recognising possible autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
• Clearer national referral guidance so that patients with persistent or concerning symptoms have a more consistent route to specialist assessment.
• Better access to appropriate investigations, where clinically indicated, before patients are repeatedly sent away without answers.
• Action to reduce excessive waits for rheumatology, immunology and other relevant specialist services.
• A clear pathway for reassessment when symptoms persist, worsen or remain unexplained despite an initial consultation.
• Greater recognition of the patient experience, including the impact that years of delayed diagnosis and uncertainty can have on people's lives.

This is not about blaming doctors. Most patients understand that GPs are under enormous pressure and cannot be specialists in every condition.

That is precisely why the system needs to support them.

Give clinicians better guidance.

Give them better access to specialist advice.

Give patients clearer referral pathways.

And, most importantly, make sure persistent symptoms are not simply dismissed because a diagnosis is not immediately obvious.

My story should not become someone else's story. I have spent years trying to get someone to take my concerns seriously enough to investigate them properly.

I don't want another person to spend years wondering whether they are imagining their symptoms, whether they are wasting their doctor's time, or whether they simply need to put up with what they are experiencing.

People deserve to be heard.

They deserve appropriate medical assessment and when specialist expertise is needed, they deserve a realistic route to it.

Please sign this petition if you believe patients with suspected autoimmune or inflammatory disease deserve earlier recognition, appropriate referral and timely access to specialist care.

And if you have experienced something similar, please share your story and share this petition.

We should not have to spend years fighting to be heard.