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NHS 'cover-up' names revealed by CQC | NHS 'cover-up' names revealed by CQC |
(35 minutes later) | |
Officials alleged to have been involved in an NHS regulator's cover-up of failures over deaths of babies at a Cumbria hospital have been identified. | |
The Care Quality Commission has named former chief executive Cynthia Bower, her deputy Jill Finney and media manager Anna Jefferson. | The Care Quality Commission has named former chief executive Cynthia Bower, her deputy Jill Finney and media manager Anna Jefferson. |
They were all said to be present at a meeting where deletion of a critical report was allegedly discussed. | |
Initially all three were not named when the claims surfaced on Wednesday. | |
But the CQC was forced into a U-turn amid mounting pressure from ministers and the information commissioner. | |
The allegations of a cover-up emerged in a report produced by consultants Grant Thornton. | |
It was commissioned by the CQC after a new leadership team was appointed last summer. | |
'Deliberate cover-up' | |
The Grant Thornton report said the three officials attended a meeting in March 2012 with the author of an internal report detailing the CQC's monitoring of Furness General Hospital. | |
In 2010 the CQC gave the hospital - run by Morecambe Bay NHS Trust - a clean bill of health despite problems emerging about the maternity unit. | |
More than 30 families have now taken legal action against the hospital in relation to baby and maternal deaths and injuries from 2008. | More than 30 families have now taken legal action against the hospital in relation to baby and maternal deaths and injuries from 2008. |
Grant Thornton found that in 2011 an internal review was ordered into how the problems had gone unnoticed. | Grant Thornton found that in 2011 an internal review was ordered into how the problems had gone unnoticed. |
But in a meeting in March 2012 between the author of the report - Louise Dineley, the CQC's head of regulatory risk and quality - and the three others, Ms Dineley said she was told to delete the report by Ms Finney and that Ms Jefferson and Ms Bower had "verbally agreed". | |
Ms Dineley claimed that Ms Finney, who has now left the CQC, said to her "read my lips" when she gave the instruction. | |
The allegations have been denied by those involved. | |
But the Grant Thornton report concluded this "might well have constituted a deliberate cover-up". | |
Former Care Quality Commission chief executive Cynthia Bower said she "gave no instruction to delete" the internal review, but added that as the boss of the healthcare watchdog: "The buck stops with me." | |
In a statement issued to the BBC, Ms Jefferson, who is still an employee of the CQC, said: "I am a new mother myself and the thought of what the families who have lost babies at this hospital have gone through is heartbreaking. | |
"I would never have conspired to cover up anything which could have led to a better understanding of what went wrong in the regulation of this hospital. I am so appalled that I have been implicated in this way." | |
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted: "Pleased to receive CQC letter naming the individuals involved. Clear sign NHS is changing. We must have accountability throughout the system." | |