Getting started
These instructions are designed to help you and your PRESS manager get started with the system. They take you through the initial set up, assessing your first referrals, issuing appointment letters and reporting on the outcomes of assessment and treatment.
The videos are designed to show you quickly how tasks are performed. Please press the full screen button (located on the right hand side of the video) if you need to see more detail.
PRESS is currently in pilot and hence we are interested to hear from you about your experiences and what can be changed to make the system better – do please let us know.
Get a username and password here by completing the online form.
Setting Up
The first stage of the PRESS set up is to enter your practice information. Head to https://app.dental-referrals.org/ to login into the system and you should be presented with a blank PRESS portal as shown here in the video.
The first element to complete is your current waiting times – for both assessment and treatment. These are entered as number of weeks; i.e. 5 weeks to assess, 15 weeks to treatment.
You will need to enter your correspondence address, phone contacts, website, and email. Please note that these are the details that will appear on your partial appointment letter and any other letters that are sent to the patient or the referring dentist.
If you have multiple contracts – you can add the details of these before proceeding to check any referrals. This option enables you to allocate reports, activity and KPIs to an appropriate contract.
Please watch the quick video on the right – you may wish to play full screen so that you can see all the detail.
Triaging your referrals
In this example we have allocated three referrals to your PRESS portal. You will request referrals in the same way as present. In the first example we are going to review a referral, and accept it for treatment with an automatically printed partial appointment letter. Simply click on “Triage these referrals” to open the triage process.
Once in the triage system you will see the first of your referrals, with a range of options on the top. Lets start by accepting this first referral and send an appointment letter. We simply click the appropriate button and the referral is accepted. We will automatically print and post the letter for you. The next example is where we will accept the referral but undertake a manual appointment process – perhaps by phone.
The final example shows a rejection, in this case for a referral over the age of 18 years. Again a rejection letter is automatically printed and posted for you. There are a range of rejection options, as well as a custom option. Each rejection option enables you to enter custom text – for example, on the Too Young rejection, you may wish to enter an age for referral.
When the triage is complete you are returned to your dashboard where you will see the two accepted referrals and the rejected referral. You can view these referrals, and the letters generated simply by clicking on them.
Accepted referrals – DNA
We now have some accepted referrals. When we click on this section we can see those that are accepted, and, if there are a large number, you can search for referrals using the search bar at the top. Clicking on a referral enables you to view its history, the referral form, any radiographs and also any generated letters – in this case a copy of the partial appointment letter.
In this case the patient has not responded to our contact letter or phone calls, or has failed to attend their assessment visit and so we are going to reject them back to the referring dentist. This is simply done by pressing the DNA – No Contact button. A rejection letter is generated and sent automatically.
Accepted referrals – Report an assessment
In this example, a patient has attended for their orthodontic assessment. Its a simple matter to report the outcomes of this assessment and report the KPIs. Simply click on the patient’s referral and then click on the Report button. This was the patient that we manually appointed, so there is no partial appointment letter in the system.
Once we are in the reporting screen its a simple matter to add the outcomes of the assessment. First we enter the IOTN, then the patient readiness details and finally the PROM information. You are free to add custom comments.
If you have multiple contracts you can add these at this time to report the assessment KPIs.
There are then a range of options to complete the referral – including sending to secondary care, returning to the referral management centre or rejecting back to the GDP. In this case we are going to accept the referral for treatment.
Simply click on the accept button and when you return to the dashboard you will see the patient has been allocated to “Referrals in active treatment“.
Accepted referrals – Send for an internal review
One feature that was requested by the orthodontic group was the ability to hold patients for a later review, perhaps to check on oral hygiene status or growth and development.
Again, this is a simple matter to do and is an option in the reporting screen. Simply complete the details as normal, and then select “Internal Review” from the options on the right hand side.
Here you can select the number of months for review and also, if you wish, send an email to the patient containing useful information (from BOS) on oral hygiene or orthodontics in general.
The referral is then placed in the Waiting for review section where you can see their details. When you are ready to re-assess, simply click on the Return to Accepted Section where you can report the patient assessment again.
Accepted referrals – Reject after assessment (including DNA assessment)
There will be many occasions where you will need to reject a patient following their initial assessment. This is easily undertaken from the reporting section.
Complete the metrics as usual, and then select “Reject to GDP“. You will then be presented with a screen to enable you to write a comment that will be incorporated into a generic rejection letter.
In this case we are informing the GDP that the IOTN is too low, and that oral hygiene is poor. Given these elements we are not recommending re-referral.
Once sent a rejection letter is produced, printed and posted to the referrer and the referral is placed in your Rejected area – from which, if required, you can move it back to an active referral.
Discharging patients
The final step of PRESS is the patient discharge – we might happen at the end of successful treatment, or if treatment has been abandoned for any reason.
To discharge a patient simply select from the active treatment area and click on Discharge (you may also reject them for DNA by selecting this option – use this only if the patient has never attended following their assessment).
Once in the discharge screen you will see the post treatment metrics, including an area for PAR scores if they have been collected. Simply complete as usual. In this case we are reporting a successful treatment outcome. You may complete with an automatically produced discharge letter or use your own. You may add comments to the letter.
Once discharged the patient’s referral is moved to the discharged area where you may archive them if you wish.
