Superbug pay-off fight

The former head of an NHS hospital trust where 270 people died of the superbug Clostridium difficile is today fighting for a six-figure pay-off.

Rose Gibb is set for a High Court battle over the £250,000 "golden goodbye" that was blocked after a damning report into her management of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust.

The former nurse resigned from her £150,000 job just days before a Healthcare Commission report was published into outbreaks of the lethal bug at hospitals she oversaw. Court papers claim Miss Gibb negotiated a deal worth £250,000 shortly before her departure, in October 2007.

But on the day the C.diff. report was published, Health Secretary Alan Johnson stepped in to halt any pay-off.

Ms Gibb, who lives near Meopham in Kent, launched legal action challenging the trust's refusal to pay her the full amount.

At least 90 people died as a direct result of C. diff, and a further 180 deaths were hastened by two outbreaks at three hospitals covered by the trust.