⚠ This article describes our operational monitoring approach at a high level. It does not replace your clinical processes. If any result appears urgent or clinically concerning, follow your practice’s normal clinical escalation procedures.

Overview

GP Automate runs your consented automations on a schedule designed to fit your practice’s workflow. Behind the scenes, our operations team monitors runs every day and intervenes when needed to help you get a successful run.

This article explains what we do, what you might notice, and what (if anything) you need to do.

We understand how disruptive it is when the automation does not complete at the expected time, particularly when you rely on the morning run before allocating any remaining lab reports to a GP.

What we do every day

1) Proactive monitoring (before you start work)

• We check our monitoring dashboards to confirm each practice has had a successful run.

• If we see a practice with no successful run, or where the run completed but fewer lab results than expected were processed automatically, we prioritise investigating it early so your team can start the day with as much cleared as possible.

2) Identify the cause

When a run has not completed successfully, we investigate common causes such as:

• a run still in progress beyond expected runtime

• pop-ups or workflow interruptions that prevent safe continuation

• transient platform issues that can be resolved by a rerun

3) Manual reruns when appropriate

If your automation has not executed a successful run, we will investigate and, where appropriate, manually rerun your automation to restore a successful run.

This may include:

• moving your practice to available capacity so the run can start

• restarting a run that has stalled

• monitoring runtimes and intervening if a run appears stuck

4) Escalation when the issue needs engineering input

If we see repeat failures or signs of a broader issue, we escalate internally to the relevant product or engineering owner, with the context needed to diagnose and resolve the problem.

5) Ongoing checks and status updates

We continue to monitor run status throughout the morning and take further corrective action where needed.

What you should do if you think GP Automate has not run

In most cases, no action is required from your team. If you want to confirm whether a run completed, the audit log in the GP Automate portal is the most reliable place to check.

If you see unprocessed items in your inbox that you would normally expect GP Automate to handle:

• If you can, please avoid manually processing them straight away. Manual processing can sometimes reduce what the automation can safely pick up on the next run.

• If anything looks clinically urgent or time sensitive, follow your usual clinical escalation process.

• If you are concerned, contact support and include your practice name, ODS code, and what you observed.

Why run timings can vary (and what we do about it)

Run duration depends on volume

On days where your practice receives a high volume of lab results, a single run can take significantly longer than usual. In those cases, there may only be enough time to complete one or two full runs in a day, even if you were expecting three.

If you rely on a morning run so you can allocate any remaining reports to a GP, we understand how disruptive it is when that run does not complete at the expected time. When we see a pattern of runs completing outside your preferred window, we will review the schedule and make changes so the service fits your workflow more consistently.

Changes from your laboratory or trust

If your local laboratory or trust changes report names, formats, or pathways, this can affect automation.

Our safety controls are designed to prevent reports with changed names or formats from being processed until they have been checked. This is to reduce risk and ensure automation remains clinically appropriate.

If you are notified of upcoming laboratory changes, please let us know as early as possible so we can assess impact and mitigate proactively.

When we will contact you

If the issue is significant and we are unable to restore a successful run, we will contact you to explain what is happening and what to expect next.

Reassurance on patient safety and follow-up

If a run fails, this does not mean results are lost. We investigate and rerun where appropriate, and outstanding eligible items will be picked up on a subsequent run.

If you ever believe a specific patient result needs urgent review, please follow your practice’s normal clinical processes first, then contact us so we can investigate and prevent repeats.