Explain why a referral is waiting and what happens next

What this means for your practice

Agree a small set of administrative statuses with precise meanings. Every waiting state should identify what is needed and who can move the item forward.

What to ask before you choose

Ask to see examples of waiting for information, waiting for allocation and waiting for an external response. For each, who is expected to act and when will the team check again? Reception should have a clear administrative explanation available without guessing about clinical decisions. An item with no requested action should stand out for review.

Write statuses staff can explain on the phone

Try turning each proposed status into a sentence reception could use. 'We are waiting for the referring team to provide the requested attachment' is more helpful than a bare 'pending'. The internal record should identify who requested the information and when the team will review the position, within the practice's agreed process.

Keep the public explanation appropriate to the person asking and the information staff are authorised to share. The software should help reception find the administrative facts without encouraging them to interpret a clinical decision. Review a few older waiting items with the responsible team. Are they still waiting for the same thing, has a reply arrived elsewhere, or is there no clear action at all? Use that review to improve the labels and handovers. Adding more statuses will not fix a queue if nobody is responsible for moving its contents forward.

How to check the result

Measure items with an unexplained waiting state.