Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) AHS1.6: Follow-up systems: results and clinical correspondence from tests the service's practitioners initiate are reviewed and notated or signed, the requesting practitioner ensures clinically significant results are followed up promptly, patients are told the follow-up process, and the regular GP is alerted to clinically significant results

What does AHS1.6 require?

A test ordered at night still belongs to someone. Every pathology, imaging or other result and item of clinical correspondence arising from a test a service practitioner ordered is reviewed by a clinician, annotated electronically or initialled on paper, and the action recorded. The practitioner who requested the test is responsible for ensuring clinically significant results are acted on in a timely way, with a documented process for results that arrive after their shift. Patients are told how results will be followed up and their own responsibility to ask. The regular GP or practice is alerted to clinically significant results so continuing care is not left to chance.