By Lilian Anekwe
GPs are set for new QOF indicators for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and peripheral arterial disease, after NICE advisors gave the go-ahead to recommend the indicators for negotiation.
After a series of successful pilots, the GP-led primary care QOF Indicator Advisory Committee decided to recommend the new indicators are included in the 2012/13, subject to negotiation by the GPC and NHS Employers.
Recommended indicators included one to incentivise statin use in patients with hypertension and a CVD risk of 20% of higher, despite concerns expressed by pilot practices that they would be blocked by their primary care organisation from prescribing high acquisition cost statins.
New indicators for the management of peripheral arterial disease will also be put forward, but an indicator based on the use of ankle brachial pressure index was dropped after pilot practices questioned if referral for ABPI was the best use of NHS resources.
And after three years of a national DES, indicators for osteoporosis have been recommended for inclusion in the QOF, for a prospective register of patients with fragility fractures, treatment with 'an appropriate bone-sparing agent', and with calcium and vitamin D supplements.
Indicators around structured education and dietary review for patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes were also recommended for negotiation.
Dr Colin Hunter, chair of the primary care QOF indicator advisory committee and a GP in Aberdeen, said future QOF indicators would inevitably focus on outcomes.
'We are under quite significant pressure to produce indicators that are tied outcomes more than processes. It's a political imperative from all parties,' he said.
Revealed: Indicators put forward for next year's QOF
