Cynthia Bower

Cynthia Bower (born 6 July 1955) is a former manager in the National Health Service, and the first Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in the United Kingdom, from which she was forced to resign after the Winterbourne View hospital abuse investigation and a resultant investigation by the Department of Health.

Early and personal life Brought up in a village close to the coal mining district of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, she was the daughter of the local sub-postmaster. Unmarried, Bower has an adult son. In 2000 she became Chief Executive of Birmingham Specialist Community Health NHS Trust. In 2002 Bower became Chief Executive of South Birmingham PCT,

NHS West Midlands In July 2006, Bower became Chief Executive of the NHS West Midlands, 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.

O'Brien report, resignation

In light of wider allegations, 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 in which Winterbourne View was cited, 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.

Grant Thornton report

In August 2012, the new CQC Chief Executive David Behan commissioned a report by management consultants Grant Thornton. The report examined the CQC's response to complaints about baby and maternal deaths and injuries at Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and was instigated by a complaint from a member of the public and "an allegation of a cover-up submitted by a whistleblower at CQC." It was published on 19 June 2013.

Among the findings, the CQC was "accused of quashing an internal review that uncovered weaknesses in its processes" and had allegedly "deleted the review of their failure to act on concerns about University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust." One CQC employee claimed that he was instructed by a senior manager "to destroy his review because it would expose the regulator to public criticism."

In June 2013, following a series of critical reports and facing 30 civil claims for negligence, it was announced that the organisation would be subjected to a public inquiry. David Prior, who was appointed CQC Chair in February 2013, admitted that the organisation was "not fit for purpose." Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, issued an official apology in the House of Commons for "the appalling suffering" of the 30 families involved. In a later interview with The Independent, Bower accused the CQC of commissioning the Grant Thornton report that was neither fair nor reasonable and "against natural justice", but admitted that the CQC inspection whilst she was CEO had failed to uncover failings at Morecambe Bay trust: "We should have registered it with conditions."