An investigation has been launched into claims that government inspectors are being excessively harsh on practices run by GPs from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The Royal College of GPs has ordered the independent inquiry after “impassioned” calls for action from several doctors on its ruling council. The college is also pressing the Care Quality Commission to investigate its own procedures and findings to check for bias.

The independent inquiry it is to commission will look for associations between ethnicity of partners, inspection outcomes and confounding factors such as levels of deprivation, numbers of doctors and population size. Two GPs, Dr Sonali Kinra and Dr Margaret Ikpoh,took the issue to the college.

College vice-chair Dr Gary Howsam said he had a meeting soon with primary medical services chief inspector Rosie Benneyworth and the meeting would include members of the college’s BAME group. Dr Howsam said: “The College’s BAME Action Plan commits us to delivering positive change for all our Black Asian and Minority Ethnic members and we will continue to work constructively with the CQC towards an improved system of inspection that is supportive of GPs and keeps patients safe as we move away from the immediate crisis of the pandemic and into recovery.”