Bug row boss wins right to appeal

Rose Gibb left her job ahead of the Healthcare Commission's report

The former boss of an NHS trust has won the right to appeal against a decision to deny her a bigger severance deal.

Rose Gibb left her job days before a report into a clostridium difficile (C-diff) outbreak at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in 2007.

It concluded the infection was the main cause of death for 90 patients.

The trust negotiated a £250,000 deal with Ms Gibb but withheld £175,000 after being told not to pay the full sum by the government.

A High Court judge ruled in April that she was not entitled to the £250,000 payoff.

The appeal against the High Court decision is expected to be heard in February 2010.

The Managers in Partnership (MiP) union, which has supported Ms Gibbs's case, said: "The Court of Appeal has decided to consider only whether the NHS trust had the power to agree the payment, not other grounds such as the assurances she was given by her former employer.

"Lawyers for Ms Gibb will ask the Court of Appeal at a hearing on 13 November 2009 to admit the other grounds of appeal."

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