Test results, and what to do if you don't hear back

"No news is good news" is not a safe assumption. If you had a test and were told you'd be contacted, and nobody has, ring the practice and ask. Results can go astray. Contact details go out of date. Recall systems depend on a person acting. Following up a result you were expecting is a reasonable thing to do.

How long do results take, and why do some take so much longer?

It depends on what was taken and on how urgently it was requested, and the range is wide enough that a single number would be meaningless.

An urgent blood test can produce a result in minutes. The same test ordered routinely might wait for the next scheduled run of that particular test, or until the next day.

Some tests can't be hurried by anybody. A culture involves growing bacteria on a plate, and the organisms take days to grow before there is anything to read. Tissue and cell samples from a biopsy have to be prepared and then examined by a pathologist. Uncommon tests get sent to a specialist reference laboratory, sometimes interstate or overseas, which can take weeks or months. A scan isn't finished when the pictures are taken, because a radiologist still has to read them and write the report.

The length of the wait tells you nothing about what the result says. Timing follows the type of test and how the laboratory runs it, not whether the news is good.

The useful move is to ask at the time. The practice, or the laboratory collecting your sample, can tell you roughly when your result should be available. If you've already had the test, the laboratory named on your request form can give you an indication.

What happens to your result once it reaches the practice?

Practices are expected to review incoming results, mark them as reviewed, act where something needs acting on, and file them into your record. The GP who ordered the test decides whether a result is clinically significant and what happens next.

Clinically significant doesn't mean the same thing as abnormal. A GP can decide that a normal result still needs action. The RACGP uses the example of a normal mammogram in a woman who has a breast lump: the result is reassuring on its own terms, and it doesn't remove the need to investigate the lump. So a call to come in doesn't tell you something was abnormal, and a normal result doesn't always mean there's nothing left to do.

If more than one doctor is involved, the line of responsibility matters. Reviewing and acting on a result rests with whoever ordered the test, unless they've arranged otherwise with your GP. If a specialist or a hospital ordered it, they are the ones to chase, even if your GP was sent a copy.

Does a phone call mean something is wrong?

A phone call means someone wants to talk to you. It doesn't tell you the size of the problem. Practices call to explain a result, to arrange a repeat test, to start a treatment, or to book a review.

If it's a receptionist calling, they'll usually say only that the doctor would like you to make an appointment to discuss your results. That isn't evasion. Reception staff don't interpret results, and the explanation is meant to come from the doctor who ordered the test and knows your history.

Practices are also expected to have an arrangement for seriously abnormal results that turn up outside opening hours, so a pathology service can reach someone urgently. A result that needs acting on tonight isn't meant to sit until Monday.

The same logic applies to screening. Being asked back for more tests after a breast screen means the radiologists saw something they want a closer look at. Most people called back for further tests don't have breast cancer.

Do you need an appointment to get your results?

Usually, yes. The RACGP position is that clinically significant results are best given in person, so you can ask questions and get advice in the same conversation, with telehealth used when an in-person consultation isn't possible.

Pathology laboratories won't read your results out over the phone. They can't confirm who is on the line, so they don't do it, regardless of who's asking.

You can ask for a copy of your results, and in most cases you are entitled to one. Ask the treating practitioner at the consultation, or ask the laboratory directly. Each laboratory has its own process for releasing results to patients, and it may tell your doctor you've asked.

Can someone else get your results for you?

Results can only be released to health practitioners involved in your care. A family member can't get them without your consent. If you want your partner or your daughter to be able to ring on your behalf, tell the practice in advance and have it noted. If you're the one ringing for somebody else, expect to be asked whether they've agreed. That's a privacy rule, not the practice being difficult.

Can you see your results online?

Often, yes. Most pathology reports are uploaded to My Health Record, which you reach through myGov or the app on your phone. Four things about it matter before you look.

• It shows what has been uploaded to it. It is not a complete record of every test you've ever had, and old results aren't added retroactively.
• Most pathology reports are visible to you as soon as they're uploaded. Some kinds, including tissue samples, cell samples and genetic tests, appear after a short delay. That delay is set by the type of test, not by what the result says. A report you can't see yet is not a worse report than one you can. The current delay periods are published by the Australian Digital Health Agency.
• A report appearing in your record doesn't mean your doctor has seen it. The laboratory uploads it. Nothing in it records whether the person who ordered the test has reviewed it or decided what to do.
• A pathology report is written for the doctor who ordered it. It doesn't contain your history, your examination, or the reason the test was requested, and those are the things that decide what the numbers mean. Reading your report is not the same as knowing your result.

What is a recall system, and why do they sometimes fail?

Two different things get called the same thing, and the difference matters.

A recall is when a GP decides you need to be seen again within a set time, usually after a clinically significant result. Practices are expected to have a process for this and to record every attempt they make to contact you.

A reminder is different. It's a list you sit on for routine preventive care, such as being due for a screening test. If a practice sends a reminder and you don't respond, it isn't required to follow up.

Being in a recall or reminder system is something you agree to. You can ask whether you're on it, and you can opt out. If you opted out at some point, or were never asked, nothing arrives.

If you're told to come back for a repeat test in three months, ask whether that's something the practice will contact you about or something you need to book yourself. Those are different, and assuming the wrong one is a common way for a follow-up to disappear.

The failure points are ordinary. A mobile number that changed. A postal address from two houses ago. A message left that never reached you. A letter that didn't arrive. Changing practices partway through. A recall also depends on the result reaching the practice in the first place, and then on a person seeing it and acting. Each of those is a link that can break quietly, and a broken link looks exactly like good news from where you're sitting.

What if it was a screening test?

Screening results travel differently, and the differences trip people up.

Bowel screening kits are run by the National Cancer Screening Register. Your result is posted to you, and to your GP if you nominated one when you sent the kit back. The register gets your address from Medicare, so an old Medicare address means the letter goes to the wrong place. If your result hasn't arrived, ask your GP whether they received a copy, check your Medicare details, and call the register on 1800 627 701 or log into its Participant Portal through myGov.

Cervical screening works the other way. Your result goes to the healthcare provider who took the sample and to the register. It isn't posted to you. So if you're waiting on a cervical screening result, the practice is who to ask.

BreastScreen writes to you with your result, and to your doctor if you gave those details at your appointment.

What to do if you haven't heard back

1. Work out how long it has actually been, and from which test. Dates blur when you're worried, and the answer changes depending on what was taken.
2. Ring the practice and ask two separate questions: has the result arrived, and has the doctor reviewed it. The second is the one that matters, and it's the one people forget to ask.
3. If you're told the result is back but hasn't been reviewed yet, ask when it will be, and ask to be told either way.
4. If a specialist or a hospital ordered the test, ring them instead. That's where responsibility for the result sits.
5. Check that the practice has your current mobile number and address, then check Medicare through myGov or on 132 011. The screening programs use the address Medicare holds for you rather than the one your GP has.

If you're offered an appointment, take it. A result explained in a consultation is worth the trip, and it's the setting where you can ask the question you actually came with.

And if you're getting worse while any of this is going on, deal with that first. The result can wait. Your symptoms shouldn't have to.

Before you book

Most of what this page describes needs a phone call rather than an appointment. Ringing to ask whether a result has arrived and been reviewed is a reasonable thing to ask reception, and it costs nothing.

An appointment earns its place once there is a result to discuss, or once something has changed. That is the conversation this whole process exists to get you to.

At Chapel Street Medical Centre in St Kilda, every GP appointment is with Dr Michael Battat, so the doctor who ordered your test is the one who reviews it and the one who explains it. The practice uses telehealth for non-urgent results and follows up urgent results promptly, and it runs a consent-based patient recall system. You can book online or call the practice on (03) 9534 5151.