Report advises annual QoF negotiation
The National Audit Office has advised the Department of Health to renegotiate the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) every year and allocate a percentage of QoF points for local negotiation. In a 57 page report on the new contractual arrangements for GPs, NHS Pay Modernisation: New Contracts for General Practice Services in England, the NAO […]
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C+B incentives to go to extended access
GP incentive payments for Choose and Book will be redirected to pay for extended access to GP practices from April next year under controversial proposals put forward by the Department of Health. In a letter to the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee the DH has told GP representatives that it will impose changes to the GP […]
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QoF architects call for changes
The architects of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) have called for a raft of changes to the scheme as the House of Commons Health Committee prepares to consider how QoF could be used to reduce health inequalities. Prof Martin Roland, director of The National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, led work on developing […]
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QoF: measuring performance, missing the point
Mechanistic management strategies – embedded into computer software – become fixed and static presenting the danger that innovation will be stifled, according to a critical analysis of the Quality Outcomes Framework (QoF) for measuring GP performance. The analysis of QoF, published in the BMJ, was completed by an influential team of researchers: GP, Iona Heath; Professor […]
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English practices earn £119,000 a year from QoF
GP practices in England earned just under £119,000 from the Quality and Outcomes Framework last year, achieving 95.5% of the total points available. Statistics published by the Information Centre show that practices in England achieved an average of 954.5 points, 95.5% of the 1000 points available. Last year practices earned 96% of the points available […]
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Scottish and NI GPs top 97 per cent on QoF
GPs in Scotland and Northern Ireland earned more than 97% of the points available from last year’s Quality and Outcomes Framework with Welsh practices earning 94% of the possible points, newly published figures show. Statistics for Scotland published today show that GP practices have matched last year’s achievement even though the clinical domains on the […]
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BMA demands apology from Wales Audit Office
The British Medical Association in Wales has demanded an apology from the Wales Audit Office for suggesting GPs will take advantage of lax governance and commit fraud in their QOF returns. A furious Welsh GPC chairman, Dr David Bailey, has written in strong terms to the Welsh Auditor General, Jeremy Coleman, over the recent WAO […]
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New web tool to target health inequalities
A new web-based tool designed to help primary care trusts to make better use of evidence-based measures to improve life expectancy in areas of below average health has been launched by the Department of Health. The tool, jointly developed by the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO), and the DH, has been designed specifically for […]
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150 practices sign for PatientChase
More than 150 GP practices have signed up for a software system that claims to speed up call and recall systems for the Quality and Outcomes Framework. PatientChase, developed by General Practice Software Solutions, is an application which works with EMIS LV systems to identify which patients need to be targeted for QoF activity and […]
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60 Seconds Interview: Gavin Jamie
In the latest 60 second interview focusing on the people making NHS computing work, Joe Fernandez quizzes Gavin Jamie, a GP in Swindon who runs the QOF Database website – www.gpcontract.co.uk
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