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Two QOF indicators face axe

By Nigel Praities

NICE QOF advisors have recommended that two indicators which incentivise practices for regularly measuring blood pressure should be retired from the QOF.

Meeting on Thursday, the QOF Indicator Advisory Committee decided two process indicators for measuring blood pressure in patients with hypertension and chronic kidney disease were already embedded in practice and recommended they be removed to make room for new indicators.

The two indicators – BP4 and CKD2 – are currently worth a total of 14 points, around £1,800 per practice.

The committee's recommendation will now be passed on to GPC negotiators and NHS Employers, who will decide whether to implement them and how their attached points will be redistributed in the framework.

The decision was based on evidence that showed the indicators had high achievement and relatively low exception reporting rates, and that removal was ‘low risk' as the indicators were paired with others that incentivised achieving blood pressure targets.

The committee also considered removing another paired indicator – SK7 – for recording cholesterol levels in patients who have had a TIA or stroke, but decided to refer this to the Department of Health due to concerns over high levels of exception reporting.

At the meeting in Manchester, committee chair Dr Colin Hunter said: ‘There are some concerns that that SK7 is behaving differently compared with other indicators, so we would like more analysis before recommending it for retirement.'

NICE QOF advisors recommended two indicators be retired NICE QOF advisors recommended two indicators be retired