TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction

Balancing patient demand with the available time and resources in your practice can be challenging. With an increased emphasis on using data to plan ahead and work more efficiently, providing patients with better access to healthcare is now a key component of the GP Contract.

 

Ardens Manager offers powerful insights to help you understand what’s truly happening in your practice. This enables you to make informed decisions, identify issues early, and maintain smooth operations.

 

In this support article, we will guide you on how to use Ardens Manager to obtain the insights you need.


Accessing the Dashboard

Select the Services icon and click on Appointments.
 


How Patients Are Using Services

Appointment Utilisation

Ardens Manager has a range of reports available to monitor appointment utilisation, including Activity in Last Year and a detailed analysis of Last Month.


Activity in Last Year

To analyse All Appointments for the past year, click View.

 

 

View the Staff tab to gain insight into the number of appointments per staff role group and individual staff members.

 

 

Use the Appointments tab to visualise how well specific slot types are being utilised and the effect it is having on your staff rotas. 
 

 

The Timeline tab can provide insights on the appointment data. For example, applying a context filter by 'month', you can visualise appointment numbers by month over the past year, making it easy to spot trends.

 

 

Remember: You can change your date period using the date picker at the top of the timeline chart. This will allow you to perform a deeper analysis on time periods.

 

Apply these tools to other reports on your dashboard to visualise how patients are currently using the different services in your practice and what effect this is having on staff groups. 


Last Month

To analyse a range of appointments and services for last month, navigate to the section titled Last Month.

 

 

To view a breakdown of the report, click on View to activate the breakdown. 

 

View the Staff tab to gain insight into the number of appointments by staff role group and individual staff members.
 

 

Use the Appointments tab to understand which slot types were utilised and evaluate their impact on the rota they have been allocated to.
 

 

The Timeline tab can provide insights on the appointment data. For example, applying a context filter by 'month', you can visualise appointment numbers by month over the past year, making it easy to spot trends.
 

 

High Frequency Attenders

Ardens Manager allows you to monitor patients who attend frequently. This data is available in 3 categories:

 

 

To perform a detailed analysis, click on View. 

 

Understand these patient dynamics by clicking the Demographics tab. 

 

 

Understand the impact this is having on your resource via the Staff tab. 
 

 

Use the Timeline tab to monitor where the volumatic areas appear. Applying a context filter by 'month', you can visualise appointment numbers by month over the past year, making it easy to spot trends, for example, did attendances in this cohort increase during the winter months?
 

 

Identify patients using the Patients tab. Review their records by clicking the copy icon next to each patient's name, then pasting it into your clinical system. This process will help you understand their reasons for attending and assess whether a better service could support their needs, thereby reducing their impact on your resources.
 

How Long are Patient Waiting for Appointments

One of the major challenges facing GP practices today is that patients often experience longer wait times for appointments than anticipated. This situation can be quite frustrating for patients, resulting in dissatisfaction. Additionally, the issue has been exacerbated by government guidelines requiring that all patients be seen within two weeks. This makes it even more difficult for practices to meet these targets while managing existing demand and resource constraints.

 

To monitor wait time performance, navigate to the Performance indicator section of the dashboard. 

 

Alternatively, you can filter your dashboard using the filter icon. Select your activity type as Time From Booking To Appointment and click Apply. 
 

 

You can monitor your patient waiting times for appointments in various categories:
  • Last Month - This category will break appointments down for the previous month in 5-day banding. 
  • Performance Indicators - This section monitors your performance for the 2-week target, which can then be broken down to view the last 12 months versus the last 1 month. 

 

Monitor your performance for patients seen within two weeks by visualising how many of your patient appointments occurred within this timeframe. The data will be represented as a percentage of all appointments and displayed in a progress bar, accompanied by a 'spike line' to show trends (i.e., whether the percentage is increasing or decreasing). The final two patient columns will allow you to track the number of appointments that have met this target out of the total appointments, as well as the number of appointments that have not met this target.

 

 

Review the data for patients who have not met this criteria to look for insights on how to improve access for these patients. Identify those patients by clicking on View and navigating to the Patients tab. From the drop-down filter, select 'show remaining only'.

 

 

You can utilise the breakdown features in any of the reports to gain deeper insights.
  • Demographics - Understanding patient dynamics can help identify trends and areas where access improvements are needed.
  • Staff - Are specific roles or staff members identified? Consider reviewing their capacity and rota allocations to enhance patient access.
  • Timeline - Evaluate the impact in various contexts. Is a particular day causing access issues? Use these insights to implement changes that improve access.
  • Patient List - Review patient records for insights into why appointments may fall outside the two-week window. Consider factors such as patient choice, inflexibility with availability, or requests for specific clinicians who lack capacity within the required timeframe.


Additional Information

What comes next? Use the insights you have gathered to assess how you can enhance patient access. Consider expanding your resources by recruiting more clinical staff to increase capacity, optimising care navigation to ensure patients are directed to the appropriate services, or simply working more efficiently to avoid delays. Make informed decisions backed by data. Additionally, monitoring your DNA (Did Not Attend) rates can help identify areas to reduce wasted clinical time.

 

Consider reviewing your workforce data to determine if you have sufficient resources to meet patient needs.


Additional Learning

Why not access  Ardens Academy and enrol on the Appointment Dashboard to enhance your knowledge of the range of resources available.
 
 
If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact the Ardens Manager Support Team on: support-manager@ardens.org.uk