What to do now

Happy New Year. 2009 is upon us and there is three months left for practices to polish those QOF figures. The really organised practices will be look towards the changes to QOF 2009/10.

Two of these indicators start from now (well yesterday actually). Firstly is the COPD annual review which must now include the MRC Dyspnoea scale. This is a five point scale and is listed below with byte Read codes.

  1. Not troubled by breathlessness except on strenuous exercise 173H
  2. Short of breath when hurrying or walking up a slight hill 173I
  3. Walks slower than contemporaries on the level because of breathlessness, or has to stop for breath when walking at own pace 173J
  4. Stops for breath after about 100 m or after a few minutes on the level 173K
  5. Too breathless to leave the house, or breathless when dressing or undressing 173L

We use the EMIS PCS system in my practice and you can download our MRC Dyspnoea Template.

The second new indicator that has started is the requirement to give women seeking emergency contraception, routine contraceptive pills or patches information about long acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) - basically coils, injections and implants. NICE guideline. I can't find a good read code for this so I am making up a local code under 611 (5 byte - contraceptive advice) which I will block change when the rules come out (September most likely).

Best of luck!