HEALTH bosses in Greater Manchester have refused to confirm reports that the former chief executive of the hospital trust at the centre of the C-diff scandal had applied for a similar post there.

Reports today suggest Rose Gibb, former chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, applied to manage hospitals in Manchester while the Healthcare Commission was researching its damning report on C-diff rates at the trust's three hospitals.

The report was published earlier this month.

Miss Gibb stepped down before the Healthcare Commission published the report, which revealed that 90 people died where C-diff was a factor between April 2004 and September 20006 at Maidstone, Kent and Sussex and Pembury Hospitals.

Since leaving her position she has refused to comment on the report.

A spokesman for the Penine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We never comment on any candidate, for any post, other than the successful one."