Cynthia Bower

Cynthia Bower is a former manager in the National Health Service, and the first Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), from which she was forced to resign after the Winterbourne View hospital abuse investigation and a resultant investigation by the Department of Health.

Career

Brought up in a village close to the coal mining district of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, she was the daughter of the local sub-post master. After graduating from Birmingham University, Bower trained as a social worker, working in children's services for 19 years.

In 1995 she moved to the NHS to work at Birmingham Health Authority as Director of Primary Care. In 2000 she became Chief Executive of Birmingham Specialist Community Health NHS Trust. In 2002 Chief Executive of South Birmingham PCT, then the largest PCT in the United Kingdom. In August 2005 she became Managing Director of Birmingham and the Black Country SHA.

West Midlands Strategic Health Authority

In July 2006, Bower became Chief Executive of the NHS West Midlands, a major regional Strategic Health Authority which included responsibility for Stafford Hospital. NHSWM rejected the noted high death rates as a statistical blip. In a later inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal, it was noted that possibly as many as 1,200, died at Stafford Hospital between 2005-09 after suffering neglect, indignity and shoddy care. Bower later admitted that the situation at Stafford "wasn’t on my radar."

CQC: 2009-2012

In July 2009, the then Labour Government set up the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to replace three other quangos. Bower was appointed Chief Executive, on a salary of £195,000, The CQC overseas the NHS, social care and mental health, mandated to register and oversee 20,000 hospitals, care homes and clinics.

Winterbourne View

Main article: Winterbourne View hospital abuse

Winterbourne View was a private hospital at Hambrook, South Gloucestershire, owned and operated by Castlebeck. It was exposed in a Panorama investigation into physical and psychological abuse suffered by people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour, first broadcast in 2011. One senior nurse had reported his concerns directly to CQC, but his complaint was not taken up. The public funded hospital was shut down as a result of the abuse that took place. Cynthia Bower, then the chief executive of the commission, resigned ahead of a critical government report in which Winterbourne View was cited.

O'Brien report, resignation

In September 2011 the commissions annual report claimed that it carried out 15,220 inspections in a year, a figure later revised downwards to 7,368. In October 2011 it emerged that the CQC had spent millions of pounds on refurbishments, staff junkets including a visit to Raymond Blanc restaurant, and more than £300 on Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

In light of wider allegation, Una O’Brien, the then permanent secretary at the Department of Health was appointed to write a report on the CQC. On publication of the report in April 2012, Bower was forced to resign when O’Brien concluded that "lessons need to be learned from the performance shortcomings of the early years." Bower stayed in-post until September 2012, and then retired receiving a lump sum of £200,000 and an annual retirement of £65,000.

External links

• Archived Bio at the CQC