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Creating a new NHS England: NHS England and NHS Digital merged on 1 February 2023. More about the merger.

COVID-19 Clinical Risk Assessment Tool

This online tool is powered by QCovid® and helps clinicians better understand how at-risk a person may be of dying of coronavirus following a positive PCR test. 

What the tool is for

The COVID-19 Clinical Risk Assessment Tool is designed for use by clinicians during a consultation with a patient or as an aid to support direct care. In the past, it has been used by clinicians to review whether their patients should, or should not, be included on the Shielded Patient List (SPL). It is based on the QCovid® model.  

The tool gives an estimation of the likelihood of an outcome occurring but does not guarantee any outcome.


Before using the tool

Before you can use the tool, you should:

  • make sure your organisation has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and privacy notice in place that covers your use of the tool - a template DPIA and privacy notice are provided below
  • review the full clinical guidance (available through the tool)

This tool was updated to use the latest version of QCovid® on 25 November 2021. You may need to update your DPIA and Privacy Notice to reflect this change, and templates to assist in updating your DPIA and Privacy Notice are available below. 


What you will need to do

You must be a clinician to access this tool. 

To get a risk assessment result you will need to enter information about your patient, including their:

  • age
  • sex registered at birth
  • ethnicity
  • living arrangements - living in own home, in a care home or homeless
  • postcode - to identify a Townsend deprivation score, a well-known way of measuring deprivation based on data from the 2011 census
  • height and weight - to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI)
  • vaccination status
  • medical history - for example heart or liver conditions, or whether they have had cancer treatment

We do not store or share this information. It is only used to generate a risk assessment result.


Access the tool


Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) template

By using the tool, your organisation is classed as a data controller under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 for the patient data you process using the tool and the results you record on health records. You will need to ensure that your organisation has a DPIA in place that covers your use of the tool for this purpose. We have produced a template DPIA that you can use to develop your own DPIA.


Privacy notice template

Your organisation will need to have a privacy notice in place that covers your use of the tool. This can be shared with patients who may wish to know more about the service and the results recorded in their health record. We have produced a template privacy notice to help you meet your obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. 


How the tool has been tested and validated

The tool has been registered by NHS Digital as a Class 1 medical device with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The tool is also CE marked, which shows it meets relevant health, safety, and environmental protection standards.

Last edited: 10 January 2022 3:37 pm