by Mary Graham

Former hospital chief Rose Gibb is bidding to take her battle for a £175,000 pay-off to the Court of Appeal and launch a tribunal action against her former employers.

Miss Gibb, who was in charge of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust during a series of fatal C-diff outbreaks, lost her bid for a severance deal in the High Court last month.

She claimed she was forced to step down as chief executive, just days before the Healthcare Commission published a damning report into C-diff outbreaks between 2004 and 2006.

When the report was made public, then Health Secretary Alan Johnson personally intervened in Parliament to halt any severance pay-off.

High Court judge, Mr Justice Treacy last month ruled she would not receive the £175,000 payment, saying it was outside the legal powers of the trust to come to the deal.

He ordered that Miss Gibb should pay the trust’s legal costs and made a direction that an appeal should not be allowed.

But Miss Gibb’s union, Managers in Partnership, has confirmed papers have been lodged with the Court of Appeal.

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