Regulator ‘sorry’ over Staffs deaths

The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said she is sorry that she missed clues to the appalling levels of care at Stafford Hospital that led to hundreds of deaths in her previous role.

Cynthia Bower, formerly the head of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, admitted that organisation had missed warning signs and patient complaints that could have alerted managers to the scale of the scandal.

Appearing before the second public inquiry into how regulators missed what was happening, she said: “I offer my utmost and unreserved sympathy to patients and their carers and families.

“I am deeply sorry for what happened and for the fact we had oversight of the NHS in the region at that time and we didn’t pick up failings in care.”

She continued: “I wasn’t conscious at the time there was intelligence that we could have put together that would have said there were major failings of care.

“I accept there were some issues we lost track of that would have generated more concern, but I don't accept there were serious failings to put the pieces together.”