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Brief Summary


TITLE

Epilepsy: the percentage of patients age 18 years and over on drug treatment for epilepsy who have been seizure free for the last 12 months recorded in the previous 15 months.

SOURCE(S)

  • British Medical Association (BMA). Quality and outcomes framework guidance for GMS contract 2008/09. London (UK): British Medical Association, National Health Service Confederation; 2008 Apr. 148 p.

Measure Domain

PRIMARY MEASURE DOMAIN

SECONDARY MEASURE DOMAIN

Does not apply to this measure

Brief Abstract

DESCRIPTION

This measure is used to assess the percentage of patients age 18 years and over on drug treatment for epilepsy who have been seizure free for the last 12 months recorded in the previous 15 months.

RATIONALE

Epilepsy is the most common serious neurological condition, affecting about 5 to 10 per 1000 of the population at any one time. Few epilepsies are preventable, but much of the handicap that results could be prevented by appropriate clinical management. For the purposes of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), epilepsy is defined as 'recurrent unprovoked seizures.' This measure is one of four Epilepsy measures.

Seizure control gives some indication of how effective the management of epilepsy is. However, it is recognised that fit control is often under the influence of factors outside the general practitioner's control. It is expected that exception-reporting in the epilepsy data set will be more common than in other chronic conditions (e.g., for patients with forms of brain injury which mean that their fits cannot be controlled, patients who find the side effects of medication intolerable, etc.).

The top level of this indicator (see the "Prescriptive Standard" field in the Complete Summary) has been deliberately kept at a lower level in order to encourage general practitioners to record the frequency of convulsions as accurately as possible.

PRIMARY CLINICAL COMPONENT

Epilepsy; seizure control

DENOMINATOR DESCRIPTION

Patients age 18 years and over on drug treatment for epilepsy

NUMERATOR DESCRIPTION

Number of patients from the denominator who have been seizure free for the last 12 months recorded in the previous 15 months

DATA SOURCE

Medical record
Registry data

Identifying Information

ORIGINAL TITLE

Epilepsy 8. The percentage of patients age 18 and over on drug treatment for epilepsy who have been seizure free for the last 12 months recorded in the previous 15 months.

MEASURE COLLECTION

MEASURE SET NAME

DEVELOPER

British Medical Association
National Health System (NHS) Confederation

FUNDING SOURCE(S)

The expert panel who developed the indicators are entirely funded by a grant from the English Department of Health.

COMPOSITION OF THE GROUP THAT DEVELOPED THE MEASURE

The main indicator development group is based in the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre in the University of Manchester. They are: Professor Helen Lester, NPCRDC, MB, BCH, MD; Dr. Stephen Campbell, NPCRDC, PhD; Dr. Umesh Chauhan, NPCRDC, MB, BS, PhD.

Others involved in the development of individual indicators are: Professor Richard Hobbs, Dr. Richard McManus, Professor Jonathan Mant, Dr. Graham Martin, Professor Richard Baker, Dr. Keri Thomas, Professor Tony Kendrick, Professor Brendan Delaney, Professor Simon De Lusignan, Dr. Jonathan Graffy, Dr. Henry Smithson, Professor Sue Wilson, Professor Claire Goodman, Dr. Terry O'Neill, Dr. Philippa Matthews, Dr. Simon Griffin, Professor Eileen Kaner.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES/OTHER POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

None for the main indicator development group.

ENDORSER

National Health Service (NHS)

ADAPTATION

Measure was not adapted from another source.

RELEASE DATE

2004 Apr

REVISION DATE

2008 Apr

MEASURE STATUS

Please note: This measure has been updated. The National Quality Measures Clearinghouse is working to update this summary.

SOURCE(S)

  • British Medical Association (BMA). Quality and outcomes framework guidance for GMS contract 2008/09. London (UK): British Medical Association, National Health Service Confederation; 2008 Apr. 148 p.

MEASURE AVAILABILITY

NQMC STATUS

This NQMC summary was completed by ECRI on May 22, 2006. The information was verified by the measure developer on August 11, 2006. This NQMC summary was updated by ECRI Institute on January 16, 2009.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

No copyright restrictions apply.

Disclaimer

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