Hippo Labs uses the official NHS England QOF Business Rules to help practices maintain accurate registers of patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD).
💬 Just a reminder: this indicator isn’t a clinical guideline — it’s an operational definition used for QOF measurement. It defines which patients appear on the PAD register and how achievement is calculated.
📋 The PAD Register (PAD001)
The PAD register includes all patients with a diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) who are currently registered for GMS and do not have a “resolved” or exclusion code recorded.
Patients appear on the register if they:
Have a coded diagnosis of PAD, and
Are currently registered for GMS, and
Have no exclusion or deregistration before the achievement date.
✅ In short: every patient with an active PAD diagnosis should appear on the PAD register.
🩺 The Indicator
PAD001 — Maintaining the PAD Register
Measures:
Whether the practice establishes and maintains a register of patients with peripheral arterial disease.
Counts as complete if:
A diagnosis of PAD is recorded in the patient’s clinical record (using recognised SNOMED codes).
Exclusions:
No exclusions are listed for this indicator, other than patients not registered for GMS at the achievement date.
⚠️ Common pitfalls:
PAD coded under outdated or incorrect terminology (e.g. “poor circulation”).
Diagnosis entered in free text instead of using a valid SNOMED code.
Failure to re-code historical diagnoses following data migration.
✅ In short: the PAD indicator is met when your practice maintains a correctly coded list of all patients with peripheral arterial disease.
🧩 Putting It All Together
Indicator | Focus | Who It Applies To | What It Measures | What to Do |
PAD001 | Register | All patients with PAD | Accurate and up-to-date PAD register | Code all active PAD diagnoses using valid SNOMED terms |
🌟 Why This Matters
Maintaining an accurate PAD register helps practices:
Identify patients needing cardiovascular risk management and monitoring.
Ensure appropriate prescribing (e.g. antiplatelets, statins, BP control).
Support population-level cardiovascular prevention.
Demonstrate QOF compliance and accurate disease prevalence reporting.
✅ In short: the PAD indicator ensures every patient with peripheral arterial disease is identified, coded, and supported through proactive cardiovascular care.
📚 Sources
NHS England QOF Business Rules v50.0 (Peripheral Arterial Disease, April 2025)
Primary Care Domain Reference Sets (TRUD Portal)