GPs in England could be subject to a regime of inspection, similar to that in schools, in a bid to root out underperformance, a senior Department of Health official has suggested.

Speaking about health inequalities at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference in Manchester last week, Mark Davies, director of partnership, experience, and involvement at the health department, said that some general practices were not taking inequality seriously enough.

“There are parallels with schools,” he said. “People are not afraid to tackle failing schools.

“There will be a strategy for primary care which will look at …