Quality and Outcomes Framework - 2009-10

You can also browse the QOF online database to find results for your local surgery. The national Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) was introduced as part of the new General Medical Services (GMS) contract on 1 April 2004. The objective of the QOF is to improve the quality of care patients are given by rewarding practices for the quality of care they provide to their patients. Participation by practices in the QOF is voluntary, though participation rates are very high, with most Personal Medical Services (PMS) practices also taking part.

Information in this bulletin was derived from the Quality Management Analysis System (QMAS), a national system developed by NHS Connecting for Health. QMAS uses data from general practices to calculate their QOF achievement. The QOF contains four main components, known as domains. The four domains are: Clinical Domain, Organisational Domain, Patient Experience Domain and Additional Services Domain. Each domain consists of a set of achievement measures, known as indicators, against which practices score points according to their level of achievement. The 2009/10 QOF measured achievement against 134 indicators, and practices scored points on the basis of achievement against each indicator, up to a maximum of 1,000 points.

The QOF has undergone some revisions since it was first introduced. Further changes to the QOF were made at the start of 2009/10. These included the introduction of new indicators in the existing heart failure, chronic kidney disease, depression and diabetes clinical indicator sets; the introduction of two new indicators under a new cardio-vascular disease (primary prevention) clinical indicator set; the removal of two high value indicators from the Patient Experience domain; changes to contraception indicators within the Additional Services domain of the QOF; and various changes to the points values of some QOF indicators. Overall, the maximum QOF score remained at 1,000 points.