If you do not respond to a question asked by your GP practice within a specified period of time, your request will be automatically closed.
This is help your GP practice manage their workload and ensure they can respond to all patients as quickly as possible.
You will typically have 1 week to respond to a message, though this could be shorter or longer depending on your GP practice.
You should always respond to your GP practice messages ASAP, because if you take too long they may not be able to respond in a clinically appropriate timeframe. For example, if you have a medical problem that should be dealt with on the same day (like an infection requiring antibiotics), but you don't respond until later when the GP practice has already closed, you will be putting yourself at risk.
What should I do if I still need to contact my GP practice about my request?
If your request has been automatically closed but you still need to speak to your GP practice about it, you should submit another Patchs request.