The Department of Health has launched a consultation on its plans for the Quality and Outcomes Framework.
The DH is proposing that from April 2009, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) should be put in charge of reviewing existing and new indicators for the QoF, which was originally introduced as part of the nGMS contract in 2004.
The current indicators and pricing of the QoF have been criticised for not accurately reflecting likely population health gains and for not focusing enough on improving health. It currently costs the DH just over £1 billion a year.
The government says it has research evidence on the cost-effectiveness of 12 QoF indicators, seven from the original set and five added in subsequent years. The net benefit per patient for the new indicators ranges from £55,743 to minus £21, while the overall average net benefit per patient from the new indicators is £21,229 compared to £11,696 for the original indicators.
The new proposals, which are out for consultation until February, say that NICE will collect evidence and prioritise new indicators to be included in the framework, while ensuring that existing indicators are regularly reviewed. It will publish a menu of recommended indicators each year.
The indicator menu would then be used at national level by NHS Employers to negotiate changes with the British Medical Association. At a local level, primary care trusts would be able to select additional indicators from the menu to reflect local priorities.
The BMA said any changes to the QoF should build on the significant improvements in quality and consistency of care that its introduction has already achieved.
Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee, said the GPC would be concerned if the review undermined the national approach to quality standards.
He added: “There is the possibility of a postcode lottery in patient care developing if primary care organisations can choose which bits of QoF they want to provide. Patients should expect the same high quality of care wherever they live in the UK.”
The DH said that the development of the GP Extraction Service by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care should, in time, allow PCTs to make requests for data extraction from GP systems to measure progress against locally selected indicators.
However, it said the infrastructure available to support development of local QoFs would not be in place until 2011/12 at the earliest.
As part of the consultation, the DH plans to hold a number of events across England with stakeholders including strategic health authorities and PCTs.
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DH launches consultation to overhaul QoF
The Department of Health has launched a consultation on its plans for the Quality and Outcomes Framework.
The DH is proposing that from April 2009, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) should be put in charge of reviewing existing and new indicators for the QoF, which was originally introduced as part of the nGMS contract in 2004.
The current indicators and pricing of the QoF have been criticised for not accurately reflecting likely population health gains and for not focusing enough on improving health. It currently costs the DH just over £1 billion a year.
The government says it has research evidence on the cost-effectiveness of 12 QoF indicators, seven from the original set and five added in subsequent years. The net benefit per patient for the new indicators ranges from £55,743 to minus £21, while the overall average net benefit per patient from the new indicators is £21,229 compared to £11,696 for the original indicators.
The new proposals, which are out for consultation until February, say that NICE will collect evidence and prioritise new indicators to be included in the framework, while ensuring that existing indicators are regularly reviewed. It will publish a menu of recommended indicators each year.
The indicator menu would then be used at national level by NHS Employers to negotiate changes with the British Medical Association. At a local level, primary care trusts would be able to select additional indicators from the menu to reflect local priorities.
The BMA said any changes to the QoF should build on the significant improvements in quality and consistency of care that its introduction has already achieved.
Dr Laurence Buckman, chair of the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee, said the GPC would be concerned if the review undermined the national approach to quality standards.
He added: “There is the possibility of a postcode lottery in patient care developing if primary care organisations can choose which bits of QoF they want to provide. Patients should expect the same high quality of care wherever they live in the UK.”
The DH said that the development of the GP Extraction Service by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care should, in time, allow PCTs to make requests for data extraction from GP systems to measure progress against locally selected indicators.
However, it said the infrastructure available to support development of local QoFs would not be in place until 2011/12 at the earliest.
As part of the consultation, the DH plans to hold a number of events across England with stakeholders including strategic health authorities and PCTs.
Link