10 January 2012
QOF 2013/14 Consultation Opens
Potential new indicators for the 2013/14 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) are now out for public consultation.
Introduced in 2004, the QOF is a voluntary incentive scheme for GP practices in the UK, rewarding them for how well they care for patients.
The QOF contains groups of indicators, against which practices score points according to their level of achievement.
NICE has been asked to focus on the clinical and health improvement indicators in the QOF and has proposed a number of new indicators for the 2013/14 QOF.
Anyone with an interest in health, including health professionals, patients, community groups and voluntary organisations, is encouraged to have their say.
The menu of indicators includes two proposed indicators on diabetes, including offering advice to men who have a record of erectile dysfunction, as well as indicators on heart failure, depression, hypertension, COPD, asthma and cancer.
There are also five potential indicators to improve care for people with rheumatoid arthritis, and a set of tightly linked measures on cholesterol.
The new list of 20 potential indicators has been developed following recommendations from the QOF committee meetings, and indicators have been or are currently being piloted in representative practices across the UK to test their feasibility and acceptability.
The QOF advisory committee will consider results of the piloting and feedback from the consultation in June 2012 before recommending which of these potential indicators should be included in the NICE 2013/14 QOF menu.
NHS Employers and the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association will then ultimately decide which indicators will be included within the 2013/14 QOF. The final QOF indicators will be published by NHS Employers.
Dr Fergus Macbeth, Director of the Centre for Clinical Practice at NICE, said: “This consultation on potential new indicators is an integral part of NICE's process for QOF. It provides the opportunity for anyone to contribute to the development of indicators for the 2013/14 Quality Outcomes Framework.
“We value this input highly and any feedback will help the QOF Advisory Committee decide which indicators will be put forward for publication on the NICE menu for the QOF.
“The final menu of indicators, to be published on the NICE website in August, will support healthcare professionals to deliver good quality patient care, based on the best available evidence.”
The consultation will run for a four week period from today and will close at 5.00pm on Monday 6 February 2012.