Former health watchdog boss Cynthia Bower today claimed she has been “hung out to dry” after being accused of an alleged cover-up over baby deaths.
Ms Bower, the former chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, and two other officials were at a meeting last year at which another employee was allegedly told to delete an internal review.
The review had raised concerns over the CQC inspection of Furness General Hospital in Cumbria in 2010, which registered it as safe despite baby deaths now being investigated by police.
Ms Bower, 57, and the two other officials, deny any wrongdoing. Her then deputy Jill Finney denies giving the instruction to delete the review and Ms Bower says she would have “countermanded” it if she had heard it.
But a report by consultants Grant Thornton concluded the author of the review, Louise Dineley, the CQC’s head of regulatory risk and quality, had given the “most reliable” version of the meeting — including being told to delete it.
“This is a report that has hung people out to dry for something we categorically deny,” Ms Bower told The Independent.
Cumbria Police are investigating whether any criminal offence may have occurred during any cover-up.
