Keep follow-up work clear from request to completion

“Someone is following that up” can mean several things: a message was sent, a document is expected, a clinician is reviewing it, or the patient has an appointment booked. When the team shares the same meaning, the next person can pick up the work without starting the search again.

In its general practice follow-up guidance, the RACGP describes reviewing incoming results and correspondence, recording the review and acting where needed. It also covers explaining the practice’s follow-up process to patients and documenting contact attempts. Clinical urgency and decisions about results belong with the responsible clinician. Read RACGP Criterion GP2.2 on follow-up systems.

Give each open task a next step

In the system your clinic has approved, try using the same small set of details for each follow-up item:

• The patient or matter it relates to, using your identification process.
• The specific action still needed.
• The person responsible for that action.
• The agreed due date or review point.
• The latest action taken and its outcome.
• The route to use if progress stalls or the owner is away.

Clinical tasks also need the priority and escalation instructions set by the clinician. Keep patient information within approved records and communication channels.

For an administrative example, “awaiting form” could become: “Reception to check whether the registration form has arrived before the booked appointment; contact the patient using their recorded preference if it is still outstanding.” Add the actual review time and responsible staff member.

Use statuses the team can explain

Choose a few labels that reflect real steps in your process. For a document request, these might be “requested”, “awaiting response”, “received for review” and “review completed”. Agree what evidence is needed to move between them.

A fictional clinic asks another service for a letter. Reception records when and where the request was sent. When the letter arrives, the task moves to the named clinician for review. The clinician records the outcome and any further action. Each stage gives the person opening the record an answer to a different question.

If your software uses different labels, write down what those labels mean locally. That small explanation can be especially useful to a colleague returning from leave or joining the team.

Make absence cover explicit

Before planned leave, review open work with the covering colleague. Confirm what they are accepting and where they will find it. Include the items waiting on an outside service, since they may arrive after the usual owner has left.

For an unexpected absence, staff should know who can allocate the work and who can make clinical decisions. Keep those contact arrangements current. The steps in a useful clinical handover can help with transferring responsibility.

Review one item that took extra effort

At a team meeting, choose a fictional example or an authorised case within your review process. Trace it from the initial request to its recorded outcome. Where did someone have to ask around? Was a due date missing? Did two people believe the other was taking the next step?

Agree one change, such as naming absence cover or adding the destination of an outgoing request. Assign someone to check how that change worked at the next meeting.

Sources checked on 6 October 2026.