Table 1.

Proportion (%) of 2879 PCPs responding to four direct questions about follow-up, by jurisdiction

	UK			Non-UK
				Europe			Canada		Australasia
	Wales	NI	Engl	Den	Nor	Swe	Man	Ont	NSW	Vic	NZ
Total respondents, n	226	161	252	257	230	199	228	613	277	203	233
Follow-up appointments: ‘If you want a patient to return for a follow-up appointment, how do you book this appointment?’
Arrange the appointment at the time of the first appointment, %^a	42	52	41	80	89	93	50	43	27	28	29
Ask the patient to book the appointment at the time of the first appointment, %	59	46	65	42	20	13	54	57	78	82	64
Ask the patient to book nearer to the proposed time of the follow-up appointment, %	28	23	19	13	12	7	14	14	9	9	17
Leave it to the patient’s discretion, %	9	11	9	1	1	3	6	9	4	2	11
Other, %	10	6	7	3	3	9	6	6	5	3	7
Test reconciliation: ‘What system do you have to ensure that you receive the result of every test/investigation you order?’
No system, %	19	18	18	23	35	9	23	24	12	15	15
Automatically or manually record every test that is ordered and reconcile every test when the result is received, %^a	27	33	23	25	29	69	39	19	53	45	38
Automatically or manually record some tests that are ordered and reconcile them when the results are received, %	22	20	21	26	24	14	21	36	23	28	40
Rely on patient to call or make an appointment for result, %	31	31	37	46	14	4	24	29	17	17	10
Other, %	18	14	18	17	11	12	11	12	10	6	9
Test communication: ‘What do you normally do to ensure that all tests/investigation results are followed up?’
No system, %	1	1	2	4	0	1	2	2	0	0	3
I receive the results and follow up at my discretion, %^a	65	61	65	61	70	74	68	74	64	67	75
I ask the patient to call or make an appointment for the result, %	54	55	60	60	16	7	37	38	54	62	20
I tell the patient I will contact them only if the result is abnormal, %^a	22	22	24	15	64	34	52	45	28	25	46
Other, %	14	8	4	19	8	25	9	8	11	8	10
Follow-up of non-attenders: ‘If patients do not attend for scheduled follow-up appointments, do you contact them?’
Yes, routinely, %^a	6	6	6	11	15	23	17	21	35	25	23
Yes, selectively, %^a	70	65	79	79	78	70	73	70	61	72	73
No, %	24	30	14	10	7	8	11	8	4	3	5

↵a PCP retaining responsibility. Den = Denmark. Engl = England. Man = Manitoba. NI = Northern Ireland. Nor = Norway. NSW = New South Wales. NZ = New Zealand. Ont = Ontario. PCP = primary care practitioner. Swe = Sweden. Vic = Victoria.