Hospitals and doctors surgeries to be immune from inspection due to rapid rise in Omicron cases

The independent regulator of all health and social care services in England announced that it would not be carrying out inspections until the New Year due to the pressures already facing the NHS.

A CQC spokesperson said: "The acceleration of the vaccine booster programme in response to alarming new data about the spread of the Omicron variant, will require a massive effort from the NHS which is already under severe pressure.

"In recognition of this we are postponing on-site inspection activity in acute hospitals, ambulance services and general practice for the next three weeks with immediate effect - except in cases where we have evidence of risk to life, or the immediate risk of serious harm to people.

"Our focus will always be on supporting services to ensure people receive safe care. But we also recognise we need to respond to the severe pressures under which many parts of the health and social care system are working."

They added: "We will continue risk-based inspection activity in other sectors, including adult social care, mental health, independent health and dentists. We will also be offering additional support to acute hospitals and GPs in order to provide advice on the risks they are facing and to escalate these if necessary.

"This decision has been taken in response to the extremely fast-moving situation, with the aim of being as supportive as possible to the increased pressure on the NHS. It updates previous communications on our inspection approach – however, our priority, as ever, remains to keep people safe."

"Finally, we want to end this message with a thank you to everyone who works across health and social care. Your hard work and commitment during the pandemic has meant that people are still receiving good quality health and social care under the most demanding of circumstances."