Being treated like a doctor.

I recently approached a friendly lady outside a shop whilst she was having a cigarette, is all I got from her was a full health report, she had this problem and that problem. Unfortunately I am not medically experienced. I just let her babble on. Is this the correct procedure or not?

Pretty much. You can interrupt and change the subject to something more positive, but my experience with people that babble on about their health problems is that you won't break them from that pattern. They want everyone to know how bad off they are.

Thanks for that L A Tripp, much appreciated.