The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has kicked off a four-week consultation on its plans to include 14 new indicators for the 2014/2015 Quality and Outcomes Framework for GPs.
The new indicators include four within dementia and three in diabetes, both considered high priority areas in healthcare management.
Under the plans, GPs will earn extra points for: recording carers’ contact details on dementia patients’ records; keeping a register of patients who are also carers of a dementia patient; annual health assessments for carers; and the number of patients who have attended a memory assessment up to a year before their diagnosis.
The indicators include successful lipid management in Type 2 diabetes patients aged 40 years and over, and different blood pressure targets in certain patients with heart disease, stroke and peripheral arterial disease.
Elsewhere, the Institute also announced that it has picked a new partner to support is expansion into the social care arena.
Following a competitive tender process, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and partners* have won the contract to provide the NICE Collaborating Centre for Social Care, supporting the development, adoption and dissemination of social care guidance and quality standards from April.
“We have brought together some of the most respected and experienced research and implementation support agencies to provide the sector with practical, evidence-based guidance and support,” said SCIE chief executive, Andrea Sutcliffe, commenting on the move.
“Our immediate priority is to ensure that we have systems in place to make the Centre fully operational by April 2013,” she added.
*SCIE partners: Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre, part of the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education, University of London; Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Kent Research in Practice (RIP); and Research in Practice for Adults (RIPfA).
