High level QOF data release delayed
An early release of provisional high-level Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) data for GP practices in England on 5 August has been cancelled and one full version will be released at the end of the month. The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) announced: “The decision has been taken because of the large number of […]
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New QMAS software will focus on excluded patients
Changes to the payments software for the Quality and Outcomes Framework mean practices and primary care trusts will be able to check exception reporting details on the system from this autumn. Connecting for Health has announced changes to the functionality of the Quality Management and Analysis System (QMAS) including the addition of exception reporting information. […]
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QOF publication due despite GP concerns
Publication of individual practice results for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is likely to go ahead in England, Wales and Northern Ireland next month despite concerns from GP representatives. The results from three of the four countries in the UK are due to appear more than two months after Scotland became the first to […]
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Scotland publishes QoF data online
The first official practice by practice results for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) have appeared with the online publication of detailed QoF data for the whole of Scotland. ISD Scotland, the body responsible for health statistics in the NHS in Scotland, has published QoF results for 1025 practices. Almost all practices in Scotland took […]
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GPs ‘over-perform’ on QoF by £200m
Payments to GPs under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) of the new GMS contract look certain to massively exceed the original sums budgeted by the Department of Health. Dr Ian Trimble, a Nottingham GP, advisor to the Department of Health and one of the architects of QoF performance management framework for general practice, said […]
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300 practices’ QoF results online at GP’s site
Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) results for nearly 300 practices have been put online by a GP who plans to include data for every practice in the UK as figures are released. Dr Gavin Jamie, a GP in Swindon, Wiltshire, has set up his website, www.gpcontract.co.uk, with the figures that have so far been supplied by […]
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Bolton GPs told to use only one IT system
GPs in Bolton are coming under pressure from their PCT to ditch their various practice IT systems and sign up with a single supplier. One GP affected, speaking to E-Health Insider anonymously, said that Bolton PCT had convened a meeting of users of one system and that they were "strongly encouraging them" to move to Vision, from […]
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BMA issues FOI guidelines for GPs
The BMA has issued new guidance to General Practitioners on the Freedom of Information Act advising them to be open about data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF), introduced under the new GMS contract. Issued by the BMA’s GP Committee says the guidance states that withholding QoF data "could be seen as detrimental to […]
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Release QoF data if asked, BMA advises
GPs are being advised to release Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) data before national figures are published if their practices are asked to do so under the Freedom of Information Act. The British Medical Association’s General Practitioner Committee (GPC) has released new guidance (www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/freedomfaqs) about the Freedom of Information which advises practices to be open […]
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FOI challenge on QoF data
The owner of an online information service is challenging a decision to hold back publication of Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) data until August. Gordon Blackwell, owner of the National Health Intelligence Service told EHI Primary Care: “I don’t think they have any right to deny me access to that information. Section 22 of the […]
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