Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), said: "We are extremely disappointed that the Royal College of General Practitioners has called for an ‘emergency pause’ to our inspections of general practices, which we carry out to make sure that people across England get safe, high-quality and compassionate primary care. The safety and quality of care of people who use these services continue to be our number one priority.
"Already our inspections have allowed us to rate over 1,100 general practices across the country as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate. We believe these can help people to make informed choices about their care.
"So far, around 85% of these general practices have been either Good or Outstanding.
"However, when over 1 in 7 general practices are not delivering the care that patients have every right to expect, now is not the time for us to put a halt on our inspections.
"In the last few weeks alone, we have found some seriously deficient primary care, which has led to us cancelling the registrations of some practices, in the interests of protecting the safety and quality of care for people who use these services.
"As a practising GP, I have never intended for our inspections to be experienced as a burden to those in the profession – and for a well-managed practice, the information we ask them to provide should not present itself as one."
Ends
For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours.
Also, follow the team on Twitter for the latest national announcements: @CQCPressOffice.
Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. Please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters.
For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.
The safety and quality of care of people who use these services continue to be our number one priority.
Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice