Zoe,
My doc gave me leaflets about my chemo drugs, as well as explanations of side-effects and was completely upfront about my chances. I then was handed straight to a MacMillan nurse, who went through it all again and gave me a 'diary' where everything will be logged every week--scales for me to rate side effects, weight, cell counts etc will all be logged. As Helen suggested, Cancerbackup has loads of info and telephone support. I've been told I can ask, ask and keep on asking and even have 'out of hours' numbers to ring if I need them.
As Liz says, I think we feel more 'helpless' here as we don't pay directly for our services, so think we have no right to 'demand' answers--but the best docs seem to know what we want anyway--I feel lucky with the way things have been handled here--apart from the months long wait for initial consultation and \MRI scan!
Keep coming back and asking, as well as getting in touch with the Support Services which are available here in the UK,
Brenda