Asthma

Asthma

There are three indicators for asthma within QOF:

  • Asthma reviews

  • Smoking status recording in patients under 19

  • Diagnostic tests in newly diagnosed asthmatics


Asthma Reviews

Patients with asthma need a review every 12 months.  This must include the following items:

These items all need to be recorded on the same day to achieve the indicator.

  1. ACT score

  2. Recording of number of exacerbations

  3. Provision of a personalised Asthma Action Plan.

  4. Assessment of inhaler technique

Inhaler technique is included in the indicator description, but the rules to not currently check that it has been done.

PCIT tools will flag to the user if they try to save a review without having completed all elements of the review and ask them if they wish to revisit the record to ensure the indicator is achieved.

Smoking status in <19 year olds

Smoking status in asthmatic patients under 19 years old is required.  Whilst clinicians should ensure they record this information, the tools within the Primary Care IT toolset suggest that this data is collected remotely for ease of achievement of the QOF indicators.


Newly diagnosed asthma

Patients who are newly diagnosed with Asthma require:

  1. A record of quality assured spirometry and one other objective test (FeNO or, bronchodilator reversibility or peak flow variability) between 3 months before or 6 months after diagnosis;

OR

  1. If newly registered in the preceding 12 months with a diagnosis of asthma recorded on or after 1 April 2023 but no record of objective tests being performed at the date of the registration, with a quality assured spirometry and one other objective test (FeNO or bronchodilator reversibility or peak flow variability) recorded within 6 months of the registration.

The most common cause for patients not achieving this indicator is clinicians adding a new diagnosis of Asthma, when the patient was actually diagnosed with Asthma many years ago (especially newly registered patients whose records may not have been summarised or transferred via GP2GP yet).

PCIT alerts will highlight to the user when a new diagnosis of Asthma is added but the required codes have not been added and ask them to either record the appropriate information, or send a message to somebody else in the practice to achieve this.  The other option is to record the Asthma diagnosis at the date that it was originally made – which will mean the above tests are not needed.