Two senior health officials have admitted Rose Gibb may have been treated unfairly by hospital bosses.

Miss Gibb says she was forced out of her job as chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and made a “scapegoat” for the C-diff scandal.

Miss Gibb is now suing the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust for £175,000 - part of a combined £250,000 settlement agreement she claims is unpaid by the trust.

Today David Flory, an NHS director general in the Department of Health, described the high-level confusion over Miss Gibb’s severance package.

He revealed that Miss Gibb and the trust signed the agreement before all the details were known to either the Strategic Health Authority or the Department of Health.

And he said the Treasury never approved a final pay-off figure.

Mr Flory said he was made aware on October 2, 2007, that a potential compromise agreement had been reached between Miss Gibb and the trust.

He was told that the agreement needed to be approved quickly.

In a telephone call to the director of the Strategic Health Authority, he asked for details of the proposed pay-off, and details of her contract.

He said he remembers being told the details would be sent to him.

Mr Flory told the court: “The next thing I was aware of was that the agreement had been signed.”

He said he believed Treasury approval for the pay-off was being sought - but he revealed that, as of today, it has still not been given.

• For the full story, see the Kent Messenger website.

The case continues.