The chief executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust will be leaving her post.

Rose Gibb, who has been at the trust for four years, will leave on Monday, her departure coming just days ahead of the publication of a Healthcare Commission report. The critical report is being published following a year-long investigation into the superbug outbreaks at hospitals under the trust's control, and is reported to be quite damning.

In a statement, the trust chairman and Mrs Gibb said they had ‘agreed that this is the right moment for her to move on,’ and that she was eager to "pursue new challenges".
The statement also described how the trust was a ‘troubled organisation’ when Mrs Gibbs joined in 2003, but that during her time there ‘performance has improved, financial control has been strengthened and patient care is better.’

Chairman James Lee said: "Rose leaves the trust in significantly better shape than she found it. I will be sorry to see her go and we will all miss her."

Mrs Gibb added: "Being the chief executive of MTW has never been easy and at times it has been really hard; but overall it has been incredibly rewarding - and it has been rewarding principally because of the thousands of extraordinary people who work at MTW."

Surrey NHS boss Glen Douglas, chief executive of Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust, will take over at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells while a new boss is appointed, a process which is believed to take a several weeks.

Before the announcement Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark predicted heads would roll because of the report. He has expressed fears this could jeopardise plans for the new PFI hospital for Pembury, saying ‘We desperately need this hospital - the new Pembury hospital is the solution and shouldn't be holding up the plans."