Introduced in 2004 as part of the General Medical Services Contract, the QOF is a voluntary incentive scheme for GP practices in the UK. The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) identifies where practices have achieved set quality measures, financially rewarding them where they are able to demonstrate that they have met that level of quality. This provides incentive to provide good patient care, and a financial reward that can be reinvested into the services provided by the practice.
There is a clinical section of the QOF which is broken down into a number of condition specific areas, and diabetes is one of these. A public consultation process, managed by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) is held to inform the development of the clinical indicators of the QOF.
There are two, four week opportunities to make new topic suggestions for future versions of the QOF. Separate consultations are also held on new indicators that have been developed and piloted. Comments on existing indicators can be made throughout the year without deadline. NICE also make recommendations about indicators that can be retired from the QOF. For more about the QOF and NICE process visit: www.nice.org.uk/aboutnice/qof/qof.jsp
April 2011
You can download a summary of Diabetes UK’s contributions and views on the QOF in the downloads box on the right.