Northern Ireland Quality and Outcomes Framework (Qof) Information 2018/19

Date published: 1 November 2019

This is the fifteenth 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 539.0 of the 547 points available (98.5%). Achievement across LCGs has been historically very similar, with levels in 2018/19 ranging from 98.0% in Belfast LCG to 99.1% in Western LCG.

• Of the clinical registers collected for QOF that measure disease prevalence, prevalence was highest for hypertension (13.79%) and lowest for Osteoporosis (0.33%).

• The average points achieved in the main domains were 374.1 points (98.4%) for Clinical, 33.5 points (95.6%) for Public Health, 13.6 points (97.1%) for Public Health - Additional Services, 18.0 points (100%) for Patient Experience and 99.9 (99.9%) for Records & Systems.

• Achievement in the clinical areas ranged from 90.4% in Smoking to 100% in Atrial Fibrillation. There were no new clinical areas introduced in 2018/19.