Cynthia Bower has announced her decision to step down from the post of chief executive of the Care Quality Commission following Department of Health's decision to conduct a review of the organization.

Ms Bower said that it was time to move on from the organization. The Care Quality Commission has been facing low funding and its staff has seen board level disputes and lower morale. A Department of Health spokesperson said that the review will look into how the Britain's health and social care watchdog works and will aim at reducing risks.

There has been criticism over the leadership of Ms Bower. The health department will soon publish a report on inquiries into the watchdog's inability to enforce regulations at the Winterbourne View care home as well as allegations from a member that the commission has not been able to perform its responsibilities.

The resignation of Ms Bower is a cause of concern for Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley as well as the CQC, which is aiming to generate £ 20 billion in savings without compromising on its service. Experts say that it was nearly impossible for Ms Bower to head the organization that was allotted a budget of £170 million, which is third less than that of the three organizations it replaced.

An audit in December had stated that the CQC is not functioning properly. The report said that the CQC has reduced inspections of care homes for focusing on efforts on meeting timetables for registering care providers. It also noted that the watchdog has been able to complete less than half of its target number of compliance reviews of standards of care in October 2010 to April 2011 period.