Disclaimer

RESULTS POLICY

 This policy is intended to map the flow of results of patient investigations into the Practice and the possible outcomes. 

As a general principle all patients are asked to contact the surgery on Tel 366600, or make an appointment with a Doctor or a nurse, or enquire in person at the reception desk in order to receive the results of any investigations. In cases of very abnormal results, which would normally initiate further action, the Practice may attempt to contact the patient but due to previous problems with inaccurate contact details we would ask that all patients make efforts to contact the Surgery for their own results.

 Blood results normally enter the Practice into a named Doctors or Nurses electronic inbox, and also filed automatically into the patients electronic record. The inboxes are managed by the computer systems administrator. The incoming paper copies are checked off against the electronic copy to ensure that all paper copies have been duplicated electronically. Each Doctor/Nurse actions the results and the action is filed into the patients record to be given out to the patient when the Surgery is contacted by that patient, eg make appointment, repeat test etc. As mentioned above certain results may, at the Doctors discretion, trigger an attempt by the Surgery to initiate contact with that patient. Often, this attempt will be in the form of an email sent to the computer systems administrator who is then responsible for contacting the patient. 

Certain results are still only received in paper format. These are stamped with an “Action stamp” and placed in a clinician’s tray. Actions are then written on and the administrative staff will carry out those actions. 

Certain results such as thyroid function tests take 2 weeks or longer to be received back from the laboratory, whilst others take only 1 day. It is important that a patient receives all the results back and does not fail to pick up the results of the tests which can take longer to return to the Surgery. 

In the rare case where a test has been ordered but not done by the laboratory the failure to receive a result will normally be recognised when the patient contacts the Surgery for their results.

SY May 2002