More than 44 new indicators have been proposed in the first Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF) by NICE.

The proposed indicators include care for stroke patients, plus ones for COPD, maternal care and access to mental health services.

The ‘menu’ of indicators covers the five domains outlined in the NHS Outcomes Framework.

Professor Danny Keenan, COF Advisory Committee Chair, said he hoped the “robust” set of indicators would “lead to improved health outcomes”.

From April next year, the COF will be used to hold CCGs to account for improvement in quality of local healthcare and patient outcomes through the services they commission.

The indicators have been developed using the Outcomes Framework, NICE Quality Standards and existing indicator collections, such as national audits.

A further menu of indicators will now be developed using NICE’s quality standards to ensure that all topics are covered.

Dr Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Health and Social Care at NICE, said the indicators will “support high quality commissioning”.

“Each indicator has been through public consultation and feasibility testing (conducted by the Health and Social Care Information Centre), so commissioners can be reassured that they will work in practice,” she said.

The final selection of indicators that will be included within the 2013/14 COF will be decided by the NHS Commissioning Board later this year.

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