By Adam Legge
Primary care cardiology experts have called on PCTs to agree which cardiovascular risk tool should be used locally – after NICE withdrew its support for Framingham as the tool of choice.
But the institute has stopped short of explicitly recommending QRISK as a replacement in an update to its lipid management guidance.
Dr Terry McCormack, a GP in Whitby, North Yorkshire, and one of the editors of the British Journal of Cardiology said: ‘NICE has done the only thing it could do in light of the current evidence but PCTs now need to get some consensus on which tool should be used locally. Our PCT has, and we've chosen Framingham.'
There have been reports of confusion in some areas with patients being assessed by nurses or pharmacists using one tool and being referred to GPs who calculate a different 10 year risk using another.
Dr Kathryn Griffith, a GP in York and chair-elect of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, said: ‘We need clear guidance. There's a lot of work on CV risk going into the revision of the JBS guidelines and I would have hoped that any update would have waited until this was launched.'
Framingham risk charts
