Castlebeck chairman stands down in wake of abuse scandal

The chairman of Castlebeck has resigned following revelations of abuse at two of the firm’s care homes. Paul Brosnan, who was chairman of Castlebeck for nearly three years, has quit and will be replaced by Dick Stockford, a healthcare consultant with experience across a number of senior posts in the NHS.
  The resignation follows a BBC Panorama programme in May which exposed the abuse of people with learning difficulties at the firm’s Winterbourne View home in Bristol.
 
Castlebeck subsequently closed the home and apologised for failing to act on a whistleblower’s attempt to highlight the abuse. Last week, it was revealed that four workers at Castlebeck’s Rose Villa home, also in Bristol, have been suspended as a result of new abuse allegations.
 
The company is now struggling to salvage its severely damaged reputation. In its report on the events at Winterbourne View, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticises Castelbeck’s “systemic failure to protect people” at the home. It says the firm failed in its legal duty to notify the CQC of serious incidents including injuries to patients or occasions when they had gone missing.
 
Castlebeck told the Guardian: “Paul Brosnan has told the board that he believes the company needs a chairman with relevant health and social care experience at this time.”
 
Brosnan is expected to dedicate more time to running Casterbridge Care, a preschool nursery operator backed by his father, the Irish tycoon Denis Brosnan.