Following the release of Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora guidelines on the Transfer of Care and Results Responsibility,  Awanui Labs community laboratory will no longer routinely send copies of results to clinicians other than the primary responsible requestor unless specifically stated on the laboratory request form.
 
“Copying test results should never be an automatic process but a carefully considered action, when the person ordering the test is intending that the recipient will need to act on the result, and that this has been made clear to them, in a separate communication. It is important before copying a colleague into test results that these are meaningful and necessary for continuing care and that the colleague will have the understanding necessary to interpret the result.”
 
This change will primarily affect Histology performed by Awanui Labs, as these are the only results currently routinely copied to the General Practitioner. We wish to inform you that from May 2025 this practice will discontinue, so that you may have time to prepare for this change and/or make alternative arrangements.
 
If you are the primary requester you will continue to receive results. We will continue to copy results to those specifically identified on the laboratory request form.