Controversial QOF depression indicators to stay
By Liz Lockhart
Despite recommendations from NICE to scrap them, the controversial indicators on depression are to be 
spared the axe in the QOF.
According to the NHS Information Centre the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is a voluntary annual reward and incentive programme for all GP surgeries in England, detailing practice achievement results. It is not about performance management but resourcing and then rewarding good practice.
However, the deal agreed between NHS Employers and the BMA includes a promise to pilot a new ‘assessment tool’ to replace the current questionnaires which validate for primary care.
A deluge of complaints from GPs prompted NICE’s QOF indicator advisory committee to vote to scrap points for screening for and assessing the severity of depression last June.
Many mental health charities and experts lobbied against any changes, some saying that removing the indicators would be a grave mistake.
In a report in ‘Pulse’, Professor Tony Kendrick, a GP in Hull and a member of the QOF indicator advisory committee said ‘The committee was clear it didn't want to neglect depression and wanted to develop new assessments that didn't rely on questionnaires, and I would hope that will be developed soon. My personal view is that keeping these indicators in for the moment is good for people with depression because they are still being assessed and followed up. Having the current indicators is better than not having them at all.'
Dr Gavin Jamie, a GP in Crawley, Sussex, who runs the QOF Database website, said the decision was incomprehensible. ‘A lot of things NICE said should go haven't gone, like depression, which NICE acknowledges are useless. I can only guess it's been left here for political reasons.'
