TY - JOUR T1 - Ever been HAD? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 796 LP - 797 VL - 56 IS - 531 AU - Tony Kendrick Y1 - 2006/10/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/56/531/796.abstract N2 - Dougal Jeffries suggests that the inclusion in the QOF of payments for using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), or other measures of severity, will encourage antidepressant prescribing,1 but I think he's wrong.I can give Dougal evidence that the introduction of these measures is likely to help to rationalise antidepressant prescribing. Anticipating their introduction by 6 months, Southampton City Primary Care Trust agreed to reward practices for measuring the severity of depression, through the Trust's prescribing audit incentive scheme. Participating practices used the HADS depression sub-scale (HAD-D), with all patients they were considering for possible treatment for depression, between December 2005 and April 2006.The GPs were advised that active intervention should not usually be offered to patients scoring less than 8 out of 21 on the HAD-D (indicating major depressive disorder is … ER -