Greedy bastard

The health chief blamed for a hospital superbug outbreak which killed 90 patients has rejected a pay-off of £75,000 and wants twice as much.


The health chief blamed for a hospital superbug outbreak which killed 90 patients has rejected a pay-off of £75,000 and wants twice as much.


Rose Gibb left her job "by mutual consent" as chief executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent last October after a Healthcare Commission report criticised her handling of the C.difficile infection which hit 1,176 people in three hospitals between 2004 and 2006.

There was anger at the poor hygiene in the trust's hospitals - Maidstone, the Kent and Sussex and Pembury - where the superbug was found to have hastened the deaths of another 180 patients.

Last week it emerged Ms Gibb was to receive a pay-off from the trust of £75,000, despite the efforts of Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, to block it.

Ms Gibb's representatives have revealed she is not accepting the severance package as she feels she is entitled to twice that figure, and is seeking £150,000.