Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will introduce an indicator on the use of manual pulse checks to screen for atrial fibrillation.

The decision on which indicators should be included in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is decided through annual negotiations. In England, NHS Employers on behalf of NHS England, and the General Practitioners’ Committee on behalf of the British Medical Association, decide which indicators are included within the QOF.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for producing a menu of indicators suitable for inclusion in the QOF.

NICE has advised that, in February 2016, it consulted on potential new indicators for the NICE indicators menu, including two new indicators on the use of manual pulse checks for atrial fibrillation. The NICE indicators advisory committee will review feedback to the consultation at its next meeting on 13 June 2016 and the outcome of this review will determine future work in this area.