Using the dashboard

Before you access the dashboard, ensure your smartcard reader is set up (some laptops such as the Lenovo ThinkPad have an inbuilt smartcard reader, others such as Microsoft Surface Pros will need an external one).

Once set up, access the dashboard. 

To navigate the dashboard, use these buttons to view different pages. The details on the pages can be viewed either as PCN summary view or Organisation breakdown view.

• Requires Attention will display the headline figures of all items requiring attention (data quality improvements) and return you to the landing page
• Summary will display the headline figures
• Total Appointments provides an overview and total appointment trends for your PCN
• Appointment Details will take you to a page with more information and a data quality summary
• Service setting will take you to a page with a breakdown on appointments by service setting
• Nat. Categories will take you to a page with a breakdown on appointments by national category
• Select the Download tab to see aggregate appointment information for your practice
• Guidance shows the caveats applicable to the data and useful links alongside the terms and conditions of use.

The current metrics included in the dashboard include the following tabs. The details on each of the tabs using the PCN summary view are shown as charts and the Organisation breakdown view are shown as a table(s).

• Requires attention: This page includes key metrics about essential to improve data quality elements in your PCN’s data (unmapped appointments, unknown appointment status, unknown appointment mode, unknown HCP type) that need to be addressed in to improve the data quality (DQ). It also provides information about non-essential DQ improvements that you can address in you data: admin/clerical categories, unknown time from booking to appointment, 0 minute duration appointments and unknown duration appointments.
• Summary: Summary page includes the key headlines and related to PCN and breakdown by practice
• Total Appointments: The number of appointments by the date the appointment was scheduled to happen, including the year-on-year graph
• Appointment Details: Shows appointment details by Status, Mode, HCP, Time lag and duration. You can toggle between these measures from the measure dropdown
• Service setting: Shows appointment details by service setting. You can filter the table and charts using the filters
• Nat. Categories: Shows appointments by national category. You can filter the table and charts using the filters
• Data Quality: Summarises data quality for a range of metrics. You can change your comparator using the filter.

A brief about these measures

Appointment Status

The appointment status shows whether the appointment is attended, the patient did not attend, or the final status is unknown.

Appointment Mode

The mode of the appointment shows the setting of the consultation. For example, face-to-face, telephone or home visit. This is set locally by the practices so may not represent the actual care setting of the appointment.

Healthcare Professional (HCP)

Healthcare professional type is grouped into ‘GP’ and ‘Other Practice Staff’

Time between booking and appointment

Time elapsed from when the booking was made to when the appointment happened is presented in this release.

Duration

The scheduled duration of the appointments reported. The data quality reports appointment durations of zero, over 120 minutes and negative durations.

National categories

A dedicated page Shows appointments booked to National Categories by Service setting and context type. It also enables you to build a crosstab by choosing dimensions of your choice.

Service setting

A page that shows appointments by service setting.

Appointment book

PCN hub or GP Practice appointments.

You can use the filters to select the date range for the data presented and to select the appointment measure to be displayed on the dashboard. Since the dashboard is interactive, when you select a filter, it will automatically update the views on all pages.

The default date range of the dashboard shows appointment information over the last 52 weeks. The dashboard also shows the latest available data for the date displayed, as presented in the Displaying appointment data up to panel. The date range is always calculated relative to this latest available date.

You can select from predefined date ranges by clicking the 'Selected ranges' toggle and choosing from the list of drop down options. Alternatively, you can choose your own custom data range by clicking the 'Custom range' toggle and selecting your start and end date range.

To reset the filters and return the selection to the default, click Revert in the top left corner.

Once you have selected your filters, a set of headline figures will present the metrics for the practice and date range selected. 

The metrics page shows appointment information by week, the visualisations include a timeseries graph, and a comparison of the current period selected against the same period in the previous year.

The data quality summary includes headline information about data which requires attention, a timeseries to show progress, and any further information to help resolve issues. Links to relevant guidance is also available on these pages.

The Appointments Data Table tab presents the aggregate appointment data in one place. In the same way as the dashboard, users can select their date range and appointment measures of interest to filter the table data displayed.

You can bookmark a certain filter selection so you can view it in future by following these steps:

1. Click View: Original in the top right-hand corner.

2. Name the custom view, tick the box to set as default if you wish, then click save.

3. If it is set as default, this will be the view that you see when you next load the dashboard.

You can download your own data via the Appointments Data Table tab in the GP Appointments dashboard. Data can be downloaded by following these steps.

1. Select the Appointments Data Table tab.

2. Then click on the data table to ensure correct data selection for download.

3. Click Download in the top right-hand corner

4. You will then be presented with options for downloading the Table data.

5. Click on Data to download the Table data.

6. This will trigger a separate browser window to open with a view of the Table data.

7. Click on the download all rows as text file option for a .csv file download.