diff --git a/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer.Tests/Core/ResourcesIndexerTest.cs b/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer.Tests/Core/ResourcesIndexerTest.cs
index e67dd66..fd27f3e 100644
--- a/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer.Tests/Core/ResourcesIndexerTest.cs
+++ b/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer.Tests/Core/ResourcesIndexerTest.cs
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ public async Task DeleteIndexAsync_Skips_Deletion_If_Index_Does_Not_Exist()
         // arrange
         var response = Substitute.For<Response<SearchIndex>>();
         response.HasValue.Returns(false);
-        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>())
-            .Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
+        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>()).Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
 
         // act
         await _sut.DeleteIndexAsync("foo");
@@ -46,8 +45,7 @@ public async Task DeleteIndexAsync_Deletes_The_Index()
         // arrange
         var response = Substitute.For<Response<SearchIndex>>();
         response.HasValue.Returns(true);
-        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>())
-            .Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
+        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>()).Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
 
         // act
         await _sut.DeleteIndexAsync("foo");
@@ -65,10 +63,8 @@ public async Task DeleteIndexAsync_Logs_Failure_To_Delete_Index()
         
         var deleteIndexResult = Substitute.For<Response>();
         deleteIndexResult.IsError.Returns(true);
-        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>())
-            .Returns(Task.FromResult(getIndexResult));
-        _client.DeleteIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>())
-            .Returns(Task.FromResult(deleteIndexResult));
+        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>()).Returns(Task.FromResult(getIndexResult));
+        _client.DeleteIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>()).Returns(Task.FromResult(deleteIndexResult));
 
         // act
         await _sut.DeleteIndexAsync("foo");
@@ -81,6 +77,10 @@ public async Task DeleteIndexAsync_Logs_Failure_To_Delete_Index()
     public async Task CreateIndexAsync_Creates_The_Index()
     {
         // arrange
+        var getIndexResult = Substitute.For<Response<SearchIndex>>();
+        getIndexResult.HasValue.Returns(false);
+        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>()).Returns(Task.FromResult(getIndexResult));
+
         SearchIndex? searchIndex = null;
         await _client.CreateIndexAsync(Arg.Do<SearchIndex>(x => searchIndex = x), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>());
 
@@ -92,7 +92,23 @@ public async Task CreateIndexAsync_Creates_The_Index()
         searchIndex.Should().NotBeNull();
         searchIndex!.Name.Should().Be("foo");
     }
-    
+
+    [Test]
+    public async Task CreateIndexAsync_Skips_Index_Creation()
+    {
+        // arrange
+        var getIndexResult = Substitute.For<Response<SearchIndex>>();
+        getIndexResult.HasValue.Returns(true);
+        _client.GetIndexAsync(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>()).Returns(Task.FromResult(getIndexResult));
+        await _client.CreateIndexAsync(Arg.Any<SearchIndex>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>());
+
+        // act
+        await _sut.CreateIndexAsync("foo");
+
+        // assert
+        await _client.Received(0).CreateIndexAsync(Arg.Any<SearchIndex>(), Arg.Any<CancellationToken>());
+    }
+
     [Test]
     public async Task PopulateIndexAsync_Uploads_Documents()
     {
diff --git a/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/Core/ResourcesIndexer.cs b/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/Core/ResourcesIndexer.cs
index 17a671e..1c3124d 100644
--- a/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/Core/ResourcesIndexer.cs
+++ b/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/Core/ResourcesIndexer.cs
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ internal class ResourcesIndexer(SearchIndexClient searchIndexClient, IDocumentFe
 {
     public async Task CreateIndexAsync(string indexName, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
     {
+        var index = await searchIndexClient.GetIndexAsync(indexName, cancellationToken);
+        if (index.HasValue)
+        {
+            logger.LogInformation("Index already exists, skipping creation.");
+            return;
+        }
+
         logger.LogInformation("Creating index...");
         var fieldBuilder = new FieldBuilder();
         var searchFields = fieldBuilder.Build(typeof(CpdDocument));
@@ -18,15 +25,10 @@ public async Task CreateIndexAsync(string indexName, CancellationToken cancellat
     public async Task DeleteIndexAsync(string indexName, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
     {
         logger.LogInformation("Deleting index...");
-
         var index = await searchIndexClient.GetIndexAsync(indexName, cancellationToken);
-        cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
-
         if (index.HasValue)
         {
             var deleteResponse = await searchIndexClient.DeleteIndexAsync(indexName, cancellationToken);
-            cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
-
             if (deleteResponse.IsError)
             {
                 logger.LogError("Failed to delete the index");
diff --git a/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/IndexingService.cs b/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/IndexingService.cs
index ce41d3b..b6b3a8c 100644
--- a/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/IndexingService.cs
+++ b/src/Childrens-Social-Care-CPD-Indexer/IndexingService.cs
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ public async Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
             if (config.RecreateIndex)
             {
                 await resourcesIndexer.DeleteIndexAsync(config.IndexName, cancellationToken);
-                await resourcesIndexer.CreateIndexAsync(config.IndexName, cancellationToken);
             }
 
+            await resourcesIndexer.CreateIndexAsync(config.IndexName, cancellationToken);
             await resourcesIndexer.PopulateIndexAsync(config.IndexName, config.BatchSize, cancellationToken);
 
         }