QOF indicators for 2013-14

NICE is currently consulting on the potential new QOF indicators for 2013-14. These are the indicators that could be put forward to the negotiators in the summer for consideration of the following year's contract. There is certainly no guarantee that they would go forward. This year rather fewer than half of the suggestions in the menu actually made it into practice.

As this is a consultation then the more responses the better. My response to the QOF consultation is on the web in the interests of openness. In generally the aims seem laudable although there are some significant practical problems that may arise with the implementation of these indicators. Some clearly need more work but your view may differ and I would encourage you to put them forwards.

Access Databases to download

The access databases are now available on the download page. These are actually version two. If you have downloaded before Saturday night (21st January) there were some errors in the indicator descriptions and some practice codes - basically a lack of 'N's due to over vigorous removal of null values.

You can download this years data or the data for all QOF years. The latter is a very large download and it makes Access run like an asthmatic sloth but that could all be the way I have set it up. I am no Access guru.

You may also have noticed the new timelines on the site. You can see how achievement for an indicator has changed over time. This is something that would not have been possible on the old site - the new database structure makes it much easier.