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ℹ️ Introduction
This article explains how to use Ardens resources to identify and review patients who frequently attend the practice. By the end of this article, you will understand how to identify frequent attenders, review their patterns of contact and consider appropriate support based on their individual needs.
Background
Frequent attenders are patients who access primary care services more often than expected. While this may reflect genuine clinical need, frequent attendance can also indicate:
Unmet physical or mental health needs
Complex or multiple long-term conditions
Social or behavioural factors
Fragmented or reactive care
Identifying and reviewing patients who frequently attend can help practices understand their underlying needs, improve continuity of care and provide more proactive, person-centered support.
Frequent attendance does not necessarily indicate a problem, as it may reflect appropriate clinical need. Reviewing the individual patient's circumstances can help practices understand whether their needs are being met and whether more proactive or coordinated support may be appropriate.
How Ardens Can Help
Ardens provides resources to help practices:
Identify patients with a high number of appointments or other contacts
Review patterns of attendance over different time periods
Review which staff or services patients have had contact with
Identify patients who may have been offered, referred or signposted to social prescribing
Review relevant information about the patient's existing conditions and recorded activity
How to Access
🔍 Identify
The first step is to identify patients who have frequent contact with the practice.
📋 Review
Reviewing the patient's pattern of contact can help you understand the context behind their frequent attendance. This may include looking at how often they have attended, which members of the practice team they have seen and the types of contact they have had.
Select View Results on the EMIS ribbon to identify the patients within the relevant report.
The associated reports can also help identify patients with existing QOF registers or previous social prescribing referrals, as well as the appointment details.
Review the patient's appointment history alongside their clinical record to understand the context of their frequent attendance.
📊 Dashboard
The Appointments Dashboard in Ardens Manager provides an overview of appointment activity across the practice population. It can be used alongside the Ardens Clinical resources to explore patterns of attendance and identify patients or activity that may need further review.
For more information, view the Ardens Manager: Understand Frequent Attenders article
❓FAQs
Can I see why a patient is frequently attending?
The reports help identify patients based on their recorded activity. To understand the reasons for their attendance, review the patient's clinical record alongside the report results.
Can I identify patients who have been referred to social prescribing?
Yes. The available resources include reports that can help identify patients with frequent GP appointments alongside a social prescribing offer, referral or signposting.
Can frequent attendance be reviewed alongside other types of contact?
Yes. The SystmOne resources include reports covering GP appointments, A&E or Walk-in-Centre events, Occupational Health events and home visits, allowing different patterns of contact to be considered alongside one another.
🏫 Additional Support
Book training for your GP Practice, PCN or ICB
Contact our Support Team for support in real time