Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) payments to general practices in England have risen by more than £25m in the past year, according to figures from NHS Digital.
In its publication, NHS Payments to General Practice – England 2017/18, NHS Digital revealed that in the financial year to the end of March 2018 £716.1m was paid for the QOF across 7,543 general practices in England. This is an increase of more than £25m on 2016/17 when £690.8m of QOF payments were made. In 2015/16, £688.7m worth of QOF payments were made.
Regionally, the North of England received £221.4m for QOF in the past year, while the Midlands and East received £220.4m, London £90.5m and the South of England £184.8m.
In terms of area, outside of London, Yorkshire & Humber received the largest QOF payment at £76.1m, followed by the Central Midlands with £59.6m.
QOF payments were the third largest payment to GP providers last year. Overall, £9.050bn was paid and, of this, the largest payments were for Global Sum and Balance of PMS Expenditure, which accounted for £3.449bn and £1.576bn respectively, followed by £798.8m for premises payments.
Nationally, the NHS paid on average £152.04 per registered patient – a 0.4% increase on the previous year.
