BOARD members of the shamed Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust have been called on to resign over the superbug scandal.

Mid Kent Conservative MP Hugh Robertson said: "This Trust now needs completely new leadership if it is to recover from this appalling and sickening episode."

He was speaking after widespread condemnation of the trust after an inquiry revealed a catalogue of failings which contributed to the deaths of 331 patients who contracted the superbug Clostridium Difficile (C-diff).

The British Medical Association's Maidstone secretary, Dr Roger Hart, said: "This report could not be more damning. It is terrible. The whole Trust board must resign and a new board formed."

The Trust's latest annual report, viewable on its website, names the board members as:

James Lee, chairman, Graham Goddard, estate development director, Malcolm Stewart, medical director, Frank Sims, corporate development director, Morfydd Williams, ICT program director, Jim Hope, finance director and Amy Page, chief nurse. The non-exec directors are names as Gina Jennings, Aaron Cockell, Simon Ingman, Jonathan Paine and Bruce Sheppy.

In another development, the pay-off for Rose Gibb, the chief executive in charge of the Trust throughout the superbug outbreaks, has been frozen.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson ordered the Trust to withhold any severance payment to Ms Gibb, who stepped down on Friday, October 5.

Her departure came just six days before the Healthcare Commission blamed management failings and poor infection control at the Trust's three hospitals at Maidstone, Pembury and Tunbridge Wells for the C-diff tragedy.

Mr Johnson said the pay-off suspension was subject to legal advice.

Ms Gibb was reported to be earning between £145,000 and £150,000 a year. A Trust statement said she "had left by mutual agreement".

Sections of the national media have speculated that a severance payment could be as much as £400,000, but a Trust spokesman said on Friday that it was unable to comment because Ms Gibb's contractual details were a personal matter.

Cllr Dan Daly, a Liberal Democrat member of Kent County Council's NHS Scrutiny Committee, has called on the Trust to be open about the terms under which Ms Gibb left.

A lucrative payment would be "an absolute scandal" he said and he felt it was wrong she had left without being called to account for what had happened.

View full Healthcare Commission report here...