Wednesday 24th June 2026
3rd Annual Conference
We are pleased to announce that the 3rd Annual Conference of Forgotten Patients, Overlooked Diseases will take place on 24 June at the Royal College of Physicians, London.
The conference will bring together clinicians, researchers, patients, and advocates to discuss the challenges surrounding overlooked diseases and persistent symptoms, and to explore opportunities for improving understanding and care.
Further details, including the full programme and registration information, will be announced soon.
Thursday 26th June 2025
Challenges in the medical consultation​
​Medically unexplained symptoms and the problems of doctor-patient bias, 'persona', 'gaslighting', and acknowledging diagnostic doubt
This conference explored the challenges faced by patients and healthcare professionals in consultations involving Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS).
While most consultations go well, MUS can lead to frustration, misdiagnosis, and patient distress. Discussions highlighted the importance of validation, open communication, and interdisciplinary thinking in improving outcomes.
Three key messages emerged:
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Validate patient symptoms — even when a diagnosis is unknown.
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Share diagnostic uncertainty — patients value honesty.
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Recognise consultation barriers — such as unconscious bias and patient/doctor personas
Wednesday 1st May 2024
Medically Unexplained Symptoms
A multidisciplinary conference addressing the challenges of medically unexplained symptoms
Trying to help people with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) is challenging.
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This remains a widely ignored and under-researched topic despite the large number of affected individuals and huge sums of wasted money and resources. Healthcare professionals feel frustrated whilst patients feel lost, overlooked, and forgotten in the health system. Without a clear diagnosis, sufferers often find themselves in a cycle of tests, referrals, and unsuccessful treatments without achieving a resolution of their problems. Many experience mental health problems.
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These problems were recently discussed during an intensive 1-day conference at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine.
14 December 2022
Overlooked Diseases and Lost Health Solutions
Treatment and support are available for most common diseases. For those suffering from a rare condition, there will usually be a society or self-help organisation. Members of the research and medical communications community are generally familiar with helping these groups.
By comparison, there is a sizeable number of people who may have complex, medically unexplained symptoms but no clear diagnosis. It is estimated that up to 50% of GP consultations do not result in a clear diagnosis. Often, affected individuals feel overlooked as they get shunted from one specialty to another, endure countless tests and are tried on a range of unsuccessful treatments. People do not know where to turn while money and resources are wasted. Being labelled as having a functional or psychosomatic illness may compound their problems resulting in chronic mental health problems.
Our hope during this webinar is to highlight the ‘Forgotten Patients’ group, examine with examples why the patient journey can go wrong and explore whether some previously proposed health solutions might be of value.