Asthma: register

Indicator

The contractor establishes and maintains a register of patients with asthma aged 5 or over.

Introduction

The current QOF asthma register does not have a lower age range, it includes children under 5 years of age. The new indicator recognises that it can be difficult to confirm a diagnosis of asthma in children under 5 years of age (NICE, NG80 Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management). The lower age range for the indicator has been added to reflect uncertainty in diagnosis and to reduce the risk of overdiagnosis / overtreatment.

In addition, the current register excludes people who have been prescribed no asthma-related drugs in the preceding 12 months. Originally intended as a proxy for people in whom a true diagnosis is unlikely, the development of robust diagnostic pathways by NICE provides a more accurate method of confirming diagnosis.

An incorrect diagnosis of asthma may result in lifelong implications, and unnecessary treatment with the potential risk of adverse effects.

Resource impact

The change to this indicator removes the requirement to add people under the age of 5 to the register. In addition, patients with asthma who have been prescribed no asthma-related drugs in the preceding 12 months will no longer be excluded. These changes will not impact on workload significantly.

There may be some savings from avoiding unnecessary treatment given due to incorrect diagnosis for some people under the age of 5, but these are not likely to be significant.

The overall resource impact of the proposed indicator is therefore unlikely to be significant.