TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

This article explains how to use the Ardens QOF resources to support case finding, patient recall, activity recording and achievement monitoring. 


Background

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) requires GP practices to accurately identify, recall, and manage patients with long-term conditions to achieve clinical indicators, maximise income and support high-quality patient care. 


How Ardens Can Help

Ardens provides a range of QOF resources to support GP practices with:
  • Improving disease prevalence through case finding 
  • Ensuring timely completion of QOF indicators 
  • Monitoring performance and achievement 
  • Streamlining patient recall processes

How to Access the Resources

Reports:

  • Go to Clinical Reporting. 
  • Expand the Arden's Ltd folder.
  • Select Contracts I 2026 27 I QOF.


Templates:

  • Click Auto-Consultation.
  • Select ardens CONTRACTS > QOF. 
  • You can also access the specific condition QOF templates from this list. 

  • Alternatively, press F12
  • In the box that pops up, type QOF
  • Any template with a Red Star will be an Ardens QOF template.
  • Double click on the template of your choice to open it.
  • You can also drag and drop a template to the left hand 'Favourites' section for easy access later on.


️Conditions

The LTC section contains a suite of reports to support the identification, management, and monitoring of patients with long-term conditions for QOF. These reports follow the patient pathway, from identifying uncoded patients through to tracking outstanding work, data quality issues, and overall achievement.

 

Case Finders

The Case Finder reports identify patients who may have a condition but are not correctly coded or mis-coded, and are therefore excluded from the QOF registers.

 
Examples include:

  •  Patients coded as resolved, but recently issued medication for the condition 
  •  Patients with a history code and recent related activity 
  •  Patients with investigation results suggesting a condition should be recorded


For detailed guidance on using the Case Finder reports, please refer to this support article.


Register

The register reports provide a summary of the number of patients recorded on each condition register. These reports are for informational purposes only and support visibility of current register sizes.


The existing built in SystmOne reports can be used for this, by going to Reporting > QOF Indicators within SystmOne.


 

Time Sensitive

Some QOF indicators must be completed within strict timeframes. Missing these deadlines means the activity will not count towards QOF achievement. 

 

Examples include:
  • Asthma diagnosis requires an objective test 3 months before or after diagnosis.
  • Diabetes structured educational referral within 9 months.
  • Heart Failure diagnosis confirmation within 6 months.


Reports with a 'time left' period will include patients where there is time remaining to achieve the indicator. The reports are separated by distinct periods based on established indicator rules.


Reports indicating 'time-expired', will identify patients where time has lapsed for the work to be  completed within the designated timeframe.


Important Considerations

  • HF008 - This indicator focuses solely on the time intervals before diagnosis and after registration (for newly registered patients). Consequently, the time remaining reports consider only the duration after registration, while the time-expired reports encompass both pre- and post-registration periods.
  • Time Expired - Although these reports identify patients who have exceeded the designated timeframe for completion, it is advisable to review these records to ascertain whether the work has been performed but not coded, or coded with a non-QOF code. Additionally, pursuing these patients from a patient care perspective may still be warranted.
  • Exceptions - All reports exclude patients with a recorded exception (personalised care adjustment) in accordance with the business rules for the indicator.
  • Exclusions - Most QOF indicators automatically exclude patients who have been registered or diagnosed within the last three months of the year. These reports will not exclude such patients, and they will be included unless the work has been completed or an exception has been recorded (notably, failure to complete the work by year-end will not result in penalties from a QOF perspective).
  • Appointments - None of the time-sensitive reports account for whether a patient has an existing appointment. It is advisable to check this, prior to extending invitations or making contact.


Outstanding

These reports identify patients with outstanding QOF activity. They are best used for monitoring progress rather than day-to-day management. To take a more proactive approach and reduce outstanding work throughout the year, practices should use the wider Ardens QOF resources, including:
  • Ardens LTC Annual Recall System
  • Ardens LTC templates
  • Ardens condition templates

 

Data Quality

Data quality issues can impact QOF achievement where coding is incomplete, missing, or incorrect. These reports highlight potential issues that may prevent indicators from being met.

 

Examples include:

  •  Missing codes that need to be added 
  •  Incorrect coding that requires correction 
  •  Coding that needs review for accuracy 
  •  Incomplete records that require further information



Personalised Care Adjustments

For practices using the Ardens LTC Annual Recall System, these reports help to identify patients who have been invited using the generic invitation code but have not attended the practice for their review. Towards the end of the QOF year, these reports can be used to retrospectively add the QOF invitation code.


For more information on these reports, please see this section of the LTC Recall support article.



⚠️ Please note: For SystmOne practices, adding the QOF invitation code twice will automatically apply a Personalised Care Adjustment (PCA) and remove QOF alerts from the patient record (exempting them from QOF).


Achieved

The Achieved reports can be used throughout the year to monitor QOF achievement. 


The existing built in SystmOne reports can be used for this, by going to Reporting > QOF Indicators within SystmOne.



The Smears folder contains reports to support the management of cervical screening activity for QOF. These reports help practices monitor eligible patients, identify outstanding screening, and ensure accurate coding for achievement.

 

Smears

The Smears section contains reports to support the management of cervical screening activity for QOF. These reports help practices monitor eligible patients, identify outstanding screening, and ensure accurate coding for achievement.

 

Registers

The register reports provide a summary of the number of female patients in the smear target age range. These reports are for informational purposes only and support visibility of current register sizes.


The existing built in SystmOne reports can be used for this, by going to Reporting > QOF Indicators within SystmOne and opening up the Cervical Screening folder.


 

Outstanding

These reports identify patients with outstanding cervical screenings. Practices should encourage clinicians to use the Ardens Cervical Screening template to record activity of the screening. 



⚠️Please Note: These reports are currently version 50 for 2025/26 and will be updated once TPP have updated the business rules to version 51 for 2026/27 within SystmOne.


Achieved

The Achieved reports can be used to monitor smears done in the target timeframes. 


The existing built in SystmOne reports can be used for this, by going to Reporting > QOF Indicators within SystmOne and opening up the Cervical Screening folder.


Vaccinations

The Vaccinations folder contains reports to support the identification and monitoring of patients eligible for QOF vaccination indicators. These reports help track outstanding activity, highlight data quality issues, and monitor overall achievement.

 

Registers

The register reports provide a summary of the number of patients to reach the vaccination target age during the service year. These reports are for informational purposes only and support visibility of current register sizes.

 

The existing built in SystmOne reports can be used for this, by going to Reporting > QOF Indicators within SystmOne and opening up the Vaccinations and Immunisations folder.



Outstanding

These reports identify patients with outstanding vaccinations. Similar to the condition outstanding reports, they are best used for monitoring progress rather than day-to-day management. To take a more proactive approach and reduce outstanding work throughout the year, practices should use the wider Ardens vaccination resources, including:
  • Childhood Vaccinations
  • Shingles
 


Patients who still require a vaccination for these indicators can be found in Reporting > QOF Indicators within SystmOne. However, there is an overview of these indicators to view the number of patients remaining.


⚠️Please Note: These reports are currently version 50 for 2025/26 and will be updated once TPP have updated the business rules to version 51 for 2026/27 within SystmOne.


Achieved

The Achieved reports can be used to monitor QOF vaccination targets in the fiscal year. 



Achievement can be monitored using the SystmOne QOF Indicators screen. These are located within Reporting > QOF Indicators.



Overall Achievement

Ardens Manager is a cloud-based analytics tool that helps GP practices, PCNs and ICBs to analyse primary care needs and activities. The QOF Dashboard provides useful insights into QOF performance, including points and threshold achievements. 

 

 

For existing Ardens Manager customers, explore our range of support articles to ensure you are getting the most out of the dashboard.

 

For those new to Ardens Manager, sign up for a free 1-month trial. 


FAQ

What is the difference between Case Finder and Register reports?
Case Finder reports identify patients who may have a condition but are not correctly coded. Register reports provide a summary of patients currently recorded on condition registers.

 

How should I use the Outstanding and Time Sensitive reports?
Outstanding reports help monitor progress and identify gaps in activity, while Time Sensitive reports highlight actions that must be completed within strict deadlines to count towards QOF.


Additional Learning 

  • Watch the GP Contract 2026/27 Update Webinar for a demonstration of the resources.
  • Explore more helpful Support Articles.
  • Book training for your GP Practice, PCN or ICB.