Two new draft QOF indicators proposed by NICE

NICE has announced two new proposed indicators for the 2023/24 QOF, covering physical health checks and anticoagulants.

The first potential new indicator aims to ‘increase the number of people with severe mental illness that receive the range of physical health checks recommended by NICE’.

‘People with severe mental illness are at a greater risk of poor physical health and die on average 15 to 20 years earlier than the general population,’ NICE said.

‘These annual checks help GPs identify and address modifiable risk factors linked to premature death.’

The other, covering anticoagulants for people with atrial fibrillation and an increased risk of stroke, is an update to an existing QOF indicator. 

It ‘differentiates between direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) and vitamin K antagonists’ and ‘aims to promote the use of DOACs over vitamin K antagonists, unless DOACs are declined by the patient or are not indicated’, NICE said.

NHS England and the BMA’s GP Committee will decide whether the indicators should be introduced into the QOF through contract negotiations.

Earlier this year, NICE published a suite of potential QOF indicators for cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure management and lipid modification.

Last month, MPs called for all women to have a health check to screen for menopause symptoms at 45 and for menopause to be added to QOF.

Meanwhile, practices in Northern Ireland that are ‘in difficulty’ will have the option of asking for a freeze to QOF reporting.

Former health secretary and now Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that QOF should be scrapped entirely, but the metrics retained – something the RCGP has also called for.