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Correct Procedures for Calculating Diagnostic Waiting Times
RECORDING REQUEST UPON RECEIPT
In order to conform to DoH/CfH Diagnostic Waiting Time guidelines all requests should be placed on the
system using the ‘Date the Request was Made’ not ‘Date Received’.
Please note: For Scottish Sites the Waiting Time clock starts on the ‘Date Received’ however Scottish users should still enter the ‘Date the
Request was Made’ as standard as CRIS will automatically use Creation Date (i.e. Received Date) so long as GENERAL.HospitaLCountry is set
to Scotland via XR Settings (XRTR).
The Trust should however be aware that so long as the request is placed on the CRIS system on the date of
receipt CRIS will record the ‘Date Received’ via EVENTS.Creation Date and can therefore be queried via
CRIS Statistical Reports.
PATIENT CHANGES/CANCELLATIONS
Any patient cancel status will stop the clock on the date of the last cancelled appointment.
Alternatively when undertaking a cancellation of anything other than an appointment i.e. Waiting list or
Request, the clock will reset to ‘0’ on the cancellation date.
If you wish to rebook an appointment and ‘reset the clock’ when a patient changes their appointment, it is
essential that the correct procedure is followed to ensure that the Waiting Times are recorded accurately.
Using this method the clock will continue to tick until the date of the last appointment the patient
cancelled after which it will be reset to ‘0’. The clock will then start ticking again from the date of the
appointment the patient last cancelled to the date of their final appointment/attendance.
If this procedure is not followed, then the Waiting Times clock is NOT stopped and restarted.
Please therefore refer to RIS_CRIB290_Patient_Changes_Appointment_Procedure.doc in order to
make a decision on which approach would best suit your own working practice.
HOSPITAL CANCELLATIONS
Hospital changes / cancellations do not reset the clock.
VETTING DNA’S
In order to correctly calculate Diagnostic Waiting Times it is essential that all DNA which happen automatically
(i.e. when a patient fails to attend and the Appointment DNA’s at midnight) are vetted on a daily or regular
basis.
The clock will be reset upon a DNA, and will restart again immediately, this is the reason why DNA's need to
be vetted to check if they need re-booking or cancelled using a final cancellation status to remove it from the
stat completely.
Please note: For Scottish Sites the Waiting Time clock is reset on the day of cancellation, and will start ticking again once this date has passed
in accordance with New Ways Guidelines. This will only occur if GENERAL.HospitaLCountry is set to Scotland via XR Settings (XRTR).
If this procedure is not followed, DNA’s will continue to be counted in waiting times figures, and it will be
necessary to run an additional stat report (RIS_STAT122a) to identify and combine these figures.
Last Updated: DC 04/07/2011
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Please therefore refer to RIS_CRIB281_Vetting_DNAs.doc for the correct procedure to following when
undertaking this task.
SOCIAL UNAVAILABILITY (SCOTTISH SITES ONLY)
Scottish New Ways Guidelines allow for periods of time to be excluded from patient waiting times under
the category of ‘Social Unavailability’ – i.e. holidays, or periods of unavailability due to personal
commitments. These time periods of time will be automatically excluded from waiting times.
Full
instructions
for
recording
‘Social
RIS_CRIB298S_Scottish_DWT_Social_Unavailability.doc
Unavailability’
are
detailed
via
PLANNED/PENDING REQUESTS
Planned requests are classed as follow-up procedures which take place after an initial investigation (i.e.
regular monitoring).
Planned (or Pending on some instances) events do not stop the clock at all, however any events that have
ever been classed as planned will be removed from the Diagnostic Waiting Times statistics using the
EXAMS.WAS PLANNED field, so long as the Status Type for the Planned status is "WPD".
Please therefore refer to RIS_CRIB266_Appointments.doc for the correct procedure to following when
undertaking this task.
ASSOCIATED STATISTICS REPORTS
Standard Diagnostic Waiting Times can be compiled via the CRIS Statistical Reports module using the
following reports – Please also refer to RIS_CRIB279_Statistical_Reports_Templates.doc for full
instructions.
RIS_STAT120a
PART I-Patients Waiting
RIS_STAT122a
DWT: Past cancels and DNA's
RIS_STAT140a
PART II – Activity
RIS_STAT160
Diagnostic Waiting Times (DWT) - Bi Annual All Examinations
The following report has been written to assist Trust’s in predicting Waiting Times and establishing breech
dates in order to better manage waiting times.
RIS_STAT124a
Predicted Patient Waits
This report has a ‘Breach Date’ column which sources Waiting Times in days from the ‘Max Wait’ field either
via the ‘Exams Per Hospital’ Table (which is Site Specific) or the ‘Examination Codes’ Table (which is SHA
Wide). Consequently if neither of these fields have been completed the ‘Breach Date’ column will work on the
basis of 6 weeks (42 Days) by Default on CRIS Stats version 2.5.6 and above, and 18 weeks (126 days) by
Default on all previous version of this report.
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Document Control
Title
Author
File Ref.
RIS_CRIB291_02.09.10e_Correct_Procedures_for_
Calculating_Diagnostic_Waiting_Times_v1.1
Date Created
David Costin
RIS_CRIB291
Approval Sign-off
Owner
01/09/2009
Role
Method of approval
Date
David Costin
Trainer / Application
Specialist
Verbal
06/05/2010
Approver
Role
Method of approval
Date
Emma Savage-Mady
Training / Documentation
Manager
Verbal
06/05/2010
Change History
Issue
Date
1.0
01/09/2009
1.1
04/07/2011
Author / Editor
DC
DC
Review Date
04/07/2011
Last Updated: DC 04/07/2011
Details of Change
First Issue
Amendments to version number for 2.09.10e
Healthcare Software Systems – Commercial in Confidence
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