Events | 2010.03.17
Superbug boss goes to court of appeal
The hospital chief who left her post after Britain\'s worst infection outbreak takes her fight for compensation to the court of appeal
The Kent hospital boss at the centre of Britain\'s worst infection outbreak launches an appeal today after losing a high court battle over a £175,000 severance payment.
Rose Gibb, former chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust, went to court after the government withheld the payment she was offered in return for her resignation, following an outbreak of Clostridium difficile in which 90 people died.
The high court rejected her claim for breach of contract against the trust, but she was later given permission to take her case on to the court of appeal.
The appeal before lord justices Laws, Sedley and Rimer is expected to last two days.
Gibb left her £150,000-a-year post at the trust in October 2007, days before a highly critical report was published on the spread of C diff on overcrowded and dirty wards.
Because she left her post by mutual agreement, she was in line for a £250,000 severance package consisting of £175,000 compensation and £75,000 notice pay.
The payment was blocked by the Department of Health after a public outcry, although she eventually received the notice money.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/mar/17/hospital-boss
