Most practices carry hundreds, sometimes thousands, of results and correspondence that were seen but never marked as notified. This cycle measures the backlog by urgency, clears it against a shared protocol, and builds the at-visit habit that stops it rebuilding.
A result that was actioned but not documented looks identical, in the record, to one that was never discussed. The next doctor cannot tell the two apart, so they either re-raise a matter already resolved or assume it was handled and move on. Closing the loop, and making it visible to the whole team, is the goal.
The worked example follows a fourteen-GP practice clearing a backlog that reached back to 2000: around 60 urgent reviews outstanding, non-urgent reviews in the thousands, worked down across a five-month cycle.
A database search that counts unactioned results and correspondence by urgency and by doctor, so the scale is measured rather than guessed. The count starts as far back as the record goes and separates urgent reviews, non-urgent reviews and no-action correspondence.
A shared clearance protocol agreed at a team meeting: urgent reviews first, patients contacted where the record does not show the matter was resolved, and a bulk print-and-mark shortcut for old no-action correspondence. The software steps are written for Best Practice and Automed and adapt to any system.
The habit that stops the backlog rebuilding: every doctor marks results and correspondence off during the consultation, even when the item belongs to a doctor who has left. A monthly count confirms the trend holds.
Education comes from practice meetings and the vendor results and messaging training. Reviewing performance comes from the backlog audit, the logged clearance time per doctor and the monthly counts. Measuring outcomes comes from the reports. Our worked cycle logged 30 hours across the team, EA 4, RP 23 and MO 3, because clearing a backlog of this size is itself the review. Your figures will differ: a smaller backlog generates fewer reviewing-performance hours. Nurses record their participation toward the NMBA requirement and a certified practice manager can claim the coordination work as professional development, on AAPM conditions.
CPD figures verified against the guide and the CPD home handbooks, 15 July 2026.
A result that was actioned but not documented reads the same as one that was never discussed. Closing the loop, and making it visible to the whole team, removes a common source of patient-safety incidents and medico-legal complaints.
An unactioned result is a reminder that never started. A clean results workflow underpins every recall, reminder and screening cycle the practice runs, so this one is worth running first or alongside.
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