Cytology Prior Notification Lists (PNLs) for the Open Exeter system

Transcription

1 Cytology Prior Notification Lists (PNLs) for the Open Exeter system Application User Guide Crown Copyright 2004 NHS Information Authority Hexagon House Pynes Hill Telephone: Rydon Lane Fax: Exeter Devon EX2 5SE

2 Introduction This note is intended to help GPs and practice managers understand how to use the Open Exeter PNLs application. It covers : how to access the Open Exeter PNL application; how to view the PNL and update and return it to the HA/PCT Accessing PNLs via Open Exeter Before you can access Cytology PNLs on-line via the Open Exeter system, you will need: to be a duly authorised Open Exeter Organisation with valid Organisation Code, User Code and password. (For information on this in the first instance contact your HA/PCT) an internet connection; and to be operating an XML compliant browser Internet Explorer v6 or above. (You can download this from ) 1.1 Automatic Notifications If you wish your HA/PCT can notify you via when a new PNL has been posted to the Open Exeter system for your practice. These s are generated automatically when the PNL is created and would be sent to the nominated address for your Organisation. NB: It is only possible to nominate one address for notifications. It is therefore recommended that more than one person has access to this to prevent problems when the main user is absent. Viewing and returning Open Exeter PNLs Connect to the Open Exeter (Java) server at the following address: (It is recommended that you add this to your internet favourites.) You should then be presented with the standard login screen. Having successfully logged in, you will then be presented with the main menu and from here you should select the Prior Notification List application and the database to which you wish to connect. This application is NOT available on Open Exeter Classic.

3 1.2 Viewing the PNL The page will display up to the first 30 entries for the whole organisation (i.e. for all the GPs in your organisation). If there is more than one PNL outstanding for your Organisation they will be displayed in cut-off date order. Once the cut-off date for replies to a PNL has been reached, that PNL will not be displayed. Any outstanding patients will therefore be invited in the usual manner. For the purposes of display, women are grouped according to their recall types and displayed in the following order: Suspended Repeat Advised; Inadequate; Normal; and Called Each woman listed on the PNL is identified by her NHS Number, surname, forenames and date of birth. In addition the listing gives her next test due date and the local code for her GP. Provided your user account has access to view screening details, the NHS number for each patient will contain a hyperlink. Clicking on this link will allow you to view the full screening history for this particular patient, thus aiding your decision to cease or defer recall You can page forward and back to view all women on the PNL for your organisation. Links to page through the list only appear if there are more pages to view. NB: Paging on or back does not submit any data for update but will reset the form, hence losing any entries you have input. If there are no PNLs with outstanding entries for your organisation you will be presented with the no outstanding PNLs screen. If there is an error and the PNL data cannot be displayed you will see an error page. Should this happen please report the problem to the support staff (see online Help section for details). 1.3 Submitting returns For each entry on the PNL there are four data input fields. From left to right these are: A checkbox (labelled Submit ); A drop-down selection box (labelled Reason for Cease/Delay ); A drop-down selection box (labelled Delay Period ); and A text field (labelled Comments ) NHS number hyperlink If you have sufficient access, you will be able to call up a patients full screening history by simply clicking on their NHS number. If you do not have this access, the NHS number will appear as simple text. Submit checkbox A woman will only be submitted if this checkbox is ticked. This Includes women for whom no special action is required. Cease/Delay selection This lists the valid reasons for recommending that a woman is either ceased from recall or has her next test due date put back the specified period.

4 NB: The option to Cease - Due to age will only be available for women older than the upper age limit (usually 65,) who have either never had a test, or conform to the ABC ceasing guidelines in terms of the number of consecutive non-negative results etc. Delay Period selection This lists the valid periods for delay in months. A period must be specified if a woman has been recommended for delay. Comments This is a free-text field allowing you to enter a short explanation if required. A maximum of 78 characters is allowed for this field. Comments are only permitted for woman whose recall is to be ceased or deferred. To submit a woman leaving her cytology data unchanged simply: a) tick the corresponding checkbox for the woman. When the page is submitted women for whom only the checkbox has been ticked will be returned marked as requiring no further action. These women will eventually receive an invitation in the usual manner. To submit a woman recommending that she be ceased or deferred : a) tick the submit checkbox; b) Select the appropriate action/reason code from the drop down list; c) If recommending that the patient s invitation be deferred, select the appropriate length of delay; d) Add optional comments to the comments field (comments may be mandatory for certain action/reason codes e.g. if the reason code Other is used) When you have marked up all the patients on the screen to be submitted, you should click on the Submit Returns button at the bottom of the page. This will submit any entry for which the Submit checkbox has been ticked and re-display the next 30 records to be checked. You do not have to return all the entries on a page in one submission. If there are entries requiring more investigation you can leave those unchecked and deal with them later. However, it is important that all women are eventually submitted and not just those to be ceased or deferred. Submitting all women including those that are NOT to be ceased or delayed means the PNL requiring your attention gets smaller with each submission making it easier to concentrate on those that are left. Similarly the HA/PCT staff can identify when the PNL return is complete. If you need to clear all fields and start again click the Reset button. The Reset and Submit Returns buttons are both located at the bottom of the list of entries, along with links enabling you to page on and page back as appropriate. Note: Paging on and paging back will not submit the data entered on the form. Should part of the data submitted for a patient later become corrupted at the HA/PCT prior to updating that patient s record, the patient will re-appear on the list for re-submission. Submissions rejected by your service provider It is possible that an entry you submit will be challenged by your service provider. If this happens you will be notified via an , which will give details of the recommended action you submitted as well as the reason why this entry has been rejected. You may re-submit via the Open Exeter page provided the cut-off date has not passed.

5 1.4 Validation Validation of your entries is done prior to submitting your returns. Validation will report: 1. If no entries have been selected for submission ie no entry has the Submit checkbox ticked; 2. If data has been entered for a patient but the Submit checkbox has not been ticked to ensure those details are submitted; 3. If a delay code has been entered for a patient but no period of delay specified; 4. If a cease code has been entered for a patient and a period of delay specified; 5. If the cease other code has been entered and no comment entered; and 6. If a comment has been added for patient that is not being ceased or delayed