Poor working practices
If a patient reports symptoms a and b the GP may request a blood/urine/stool or other test to see if the diagnosis could be x. If the test comes back negative the practice invariably notes 'no further action required' They do not advise the patient of the result and the patient, still with symptoms a and b, has to contact the surgery to go through the whole process of booking another appointment, often in a few weeks time, and starting again with another doctor. An absurd and avoidable procedure that could be avoided if the referring GP noted that a negative test required a follow up appointment.