Ardens has created a variety of resources to assist with identifying patients who may have Depression, and to support their ongoing management once diagnosed.  

 

Recording Information on the Management of Patients with Depression 

The Ardens Depression 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 Ardens Depression 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 “depression” in the search box.

 

This will return the Depression (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 Only 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.  



As with all Ardens templates, the Depression template is broken down by pages, select the page/pages you require at the time remembering you do not need to complete every page.

 

The Depression Assessment page enables the user to record relevant symptoms and a risk assessment.

 

There are pages to record information around Alcohol screening, Smoking and Social History.

 

The Examination page includes a section to record physical examination as well as mental state examination.


 

The Questionnaires page provides links to the PHQ-9 PDF questionnaire and the online calculator. Clicking on the link to the PHQ-9 online calculator will take the user to an external website to complete the questionnaire and view the result, the result can then be recorded within the template using the data field provided.


 

The Investigations/Differentials page allows users to record investigations they may request to rule out other physical causes for the patients symptoms.

 

The Review & Recall page enables users to code a review has been completed, along with a section to record a future diary date for the next depression review, this will trigger the Ardens Diary Recall System. For more information please see the following support article .   


Within the Management Guidance page are many helpful links and information including links to NICE guidance, Samaritans website and Childline and links to leaflets for your patients within the Patient Resources page.


Ardens Depression Data Quality Alerts

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 Depression patients on the QOF register, whilst also flagging potential diagnosis.  The Depression Review Assistant protocol displays various messages depending on the error of the coding.





Depending on the alert, you may be presented with a multiple-choice question on how to action the alert, these will include the option to add the code for Depression Interim/Annual Review and Depression Medication Review.


As the Depression interim review is a time-limited QOF indicator, Ardens has created a protocol to remind users of the time outstanding to complete the review. The alert will be displayed on loading the patients record and notify you if there is less than 46, 36,26 or 16 days left to complete the interim review.


 

Closing the alert box will then display the following question:

 


Selecting Yes, will automatically add the code to the patients record (please remember you still need to complete the review), selecting No will close the alert box.


Ardens Clinical Safety Alerts

The Ardens resources includes Clinical Safety alerts to flag important MHRA drug safety and NICE guidance information that may be missed. The alerts are triggered on certain activity in the patient record e.g., entering a particular code or prescribing specific drugs.

 

A clinical safety alert will be triggered for your Depression patient if they have an active course of Amitriptyline and Oxycodone.  The following information will be displayed in the pink box:

 

 


Ardens Searches

Ardens has developed a comprehensive suite of searches, the following searches may be useful to support with the care of your Depression patients:

  • Diary Recall System - allows practice staff to easily manage diary recalls for blood tests, injections, procedures, and follow-ups, including Depression interim review. 
  • Time Sensitive QOF Searches – searches to help with QOF indicators which have a time limitation for achievement. 
  • Ardens Case Finders - contains a suite of searches to support practices to improve data quality and ensure QOF payments are correctly calculated for your Depression patients.  

 

If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: support-emis@ardens.org.uk