Levels of exception reporting have remained stable in the last financial year, the latest NHS figures show.
The overall QOF exception-reporting rate remained at 5.4% in 2010/11, the NHS Information Centre has reported.
Not one SHA showed a meaningful increase in rates, the figures from more than 8,000 practices show.
For cardiovascular disease primary prevention, exception reporting fell by 7.5%.
And rates for the three indicators with the highest exception rates fell compared with the previous year – by 5% for heart failure and depression and 2% for CHD.
This follows a rise from 4.87% in 2008/9 after which the Department of Health said they would be tightening up on the rules around exception reporting and practice prevalence.
That increase came after the introduction of several new and controversial clinical indicators in the 2009/10 QOF, including for heart failure, chronic kidney disease, depression and diabetes.
GPC negotiator Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the figures supported their view that GPs use exception reporting appropriately.
‘Exception reporting helps protects the interests of patients, to ensure they are not subject to inappropriate treatment.
‘These statistics show that GPs are using exception reporting judiciously and in small numbers,' he said.
