Northern Ireland Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) Information 2016/17

Date published: 27 October 2017

This is the thirteenth year of operation of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), which is a system to remunerate general practices for providing good quality care to their patients, and to help fund work to further improve the quality of health care delivered. It is a fundamental part of the General Medical Services (GMS) Contract, which was introduced on 1st April 2004.

The QOF measures achievement against a range of evidence-based indicators, with points and payments awarded according to the level of achievement. The framework has four main components:

• Clinical Indicators
• Public Health Indicators (including additional services)
• Patient Experience
• Records & Systems Indicators

Key Points

• The average achievement in Northern Ireland was 494.7 of the 547 points available (90.4%). Achievement across LCGs has been historically very similar, but showed greater variation in 2016/17, with the average achievement ranging from 87.8% in Belfast LCG, to 94.6% in Western LCG
• Of the clinical registers collected for QOF that measure disease prevalence, prevalence was highest for hypertension (13.45%) and lowest for Osteoporosis (0.26%)
• The average points achieved in the main domains were 361.2 points (95.1%) for Clinical, 32.7 points (93.3%) for Public Health, 13.4 points (95.7%) for Public Health - Additional Services, 12.9 points (71.4%) for Patient Experience and 74.6 (74.6%) for Records & Systems
• Achievement in the clinical areas ranged from 85.9% in Palliative Care to 99.4% in Atrial Fibrillation. There were no new clinical areas introduced in 2016/17