An important principle in the NHS is that any result of a test requested goes back to the requesting clinician.

Therefore any tests requested by a hospital doctor will go back to them to review and the surgery is unlikely to know the result before you do. 

Tests requested by the GPs at the surgery come back to the requesting GP or your Registered GP. Timescales for vary from around 3 days to several weeks for more complex tests that have to be sent elsewhere in the country. The GPs then have to review the results along with your notes and decide what action is required. Please bear this in mind when considering whether you should contact the surgery to chase the result.

The practice has a “No News is Good News” policy on results. For those patients who need further investigations or a follow-up appointment, you will be contacted by phone, text or email. If we are unable to reach you then a letter will be sent.

For those patients whose results need no further action, you will not be contacted (this is due to the huge amount of results that the practice deals with on a daily basis). However you are welcome to ring the practice. As our phone lines are very busy in the morning, we ask you to phone from 14:00 if you would like to check your results.

The reception staff can tell you if the result has returned and whether the doctor has seen it. The Doctors check the results each day, and act upon them. Reception can pass on any comments the Doctor has made or whether they intend to take any further action.

Should you require any further information you will be offered a Telephone Consultation, wherever possible, with the doctor who ordered the test.

Please note that we do have a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection. In this respect we will only give out results to the person they relate to unless that person has given prior written permission for their release or if they are not capable of understanding them.

A blood test is when a sample of blood is taken for testing in a laboratory. Blood tests have a wide range of uses and are one of the most common types of medical test. For example, a blood test can be used to:

• confirm the presence of a bacterial or viral infection
• Look for anaemia and possible causes
• see how well certain organs, such as the liver and kidneys, are functioning

A blood test usually involves the phlebotomist taking a blood sample from a blood vessel in your arm and the usual place for a sample is the inside of the elbow or wrist, where the veins are relatively close to the surface. Blood samples from children are most commonly taken from the back of the hand. The childs hand will be anaesthetised (numbed) with a special cream before the sample is taken.

You can find out more about blood tests, their purpose and the way they are performed on the NHS Choices website.

An X-ray is a widely used diagnostic test to examine the inside of the body. X-rays are a very effective way of detecting problems with bones, such as fractures. They can also often identify problems with soft tissue, such as pneumonia or breast cancer.

If you have an X-ray, you will be asked to lie on a table or stand against a surface so that the part of your body being X-rayed is between the X-ray tube and the photographic plate.

An X-ray is usually carried out by a radiographer, a healthcare professional who specialises in using imaging technology, such as X-rays and ultrasound scanners.

You can find out more about x-ray tests, how they are performed, their function and the risks by visiting the NHS Choices website.