Ardens has created a variety of resources to assist practices with identifying patients who may have Dementia and to support the patients ongoing management once diagnosed. 

Recording Information on the Management of Dementia Patients

The Ardens Dementia clinical template has been designed to standardise consultations, ensuring clinicians are following the latest national guidelines and recording accurate coding of data. 

To locate the template, access the relevant patient record. Open a new consultation and select the Run Template option (if not in consultations, click on the Add button on the EMIS ribbon, followed by Data Using Template option).

This will open the Template Picker screen. If you have accessed any templates before, these will display to the left of the screen. Search for the template by typing “Dementia” in the search box:

This will return the Dementia (Ardens) template (alternatively select the Ardens > Chronic disease templates folder to the right of the screen).

All the Ardens Chronic Disease Templates follow the latest NICE guidance and best practice information. They include a QOF page for capturing QOF requirements and Review pages to complete a structured review.

Any information displayed in red relates to payment purposes such as QOF, Network Contract DES or local payment. Please note - if the information is relevant for the current financial year, you do not need to duplicate this information.

For clinicians requiring to complete a full review, the Review pages includes contract requirements and best practice information:

The Diagnosis pages ensure you are recording an acceptable diagnosis code for QOF for your newly diagnosed dementia patient.  These pages also enable you to record history, examination, links to NICE validated tools that can be used to formally assess memory impairment as well as suggestions for appropriate investigations to rule out reversible causes of cognitive decline.

The Mental Capacity page includes links to guidance around the Mental Capacity Act, 2005.

The template contains many helpful links and information including links to NICE guidance within the Management page and leaflets for your patients within the Resources page.

The Review and Recall page enables users to code Dementia care plan reviewed. For practices not using a month-of birth recall system, there is also the option to enter a diary date in the future, to recall patients for their annual review, which links to the Arden Diary Recall System. For more information on the Ardens Diary Recall System, please see our dedicated support article.

Please note - for patients presenting with multiple long term conditions, you may wish to use the Ardens Multi-Morbidity Templates.

Ardens Dementia Data Quality Alert

The Ardens resources includes Data Quality Alerts  to alert practice staff in real time of incorrect coding or missing QOF requirements. These will ensure that you are entering accurate data to include your Dementia patients on the QOF register, whilst also flagging potential diagnosis.

Ardens Dementia Searches

There are various searches that might be useful to support practices with the care of Dementia patients:

• Ardens LTC Recall System - a month of birth recall system, designed to recall a patient for multiple QOF conditions at once. These searches will ensure your Dementia patients are attending their annual review.
• Ardens Case Finders - contains a suite of searches to support practices to improve data quality and ensure QOF payments are correctly calculated.

Dementia Data Gathering for Clinicians

Ardens has created a Dementia data gathering document to aid data collection when visiting dementia patients.  This is helpful where a clinician does not have access to EMIS Web. 

To access the Document Templates:

• Within a consultation, select the Documents > Create letter option.
• Outside of a consultation, select the Add > Document > Create letter option.

This will display the New Patient letter screen. Click on the magnify glass to search for the document template.

This will display the Find Document Templates screen.

Search for the Dementia data gathering document template using the search box provided, select the relevant document template and click on OK to launch (alternatively double click on the document to open).

Once open within a patients record, the document will include the current date and patient’s details ready for printing.

If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: [email protected]