East Sussex NHS trust bosses given 'no confidence' verdict

East Sussex NHS Trust looks after Eastbourne District Hospital (pictured) and Conquest Hospital

Local councillors have said they have no confidence that bosses of East Sussex NHS trust are making changes following an "inadequate" inspection.

The health overview and scrutiny committee met members of the trust on Friday to discuss a Care Quality Commission report published in March.

After discussions, the committee said it was not confident there was evidence of changes being made.

But the trust said it had "an action plan to address the issues".

'Not resigning'

Ruth O'Keeffe, of the committee, said: "We were looking for a sense that following the report there would be appropriate and substantial changes.

"The only element we were happy with was to do with the staff - they were very caring.

"But we couldn't feel confident that the chief executive and the chair were ready to make changes."

Stuart Welling, trust chairman, said: "The chief executive and I have no intention of resigning. There is still work to be done here.

"We are confident that, with the support of the board and staff, we will be able to make the improvements required."

The original CQC inspection took place in September 2014 but because of the longer-than-usual time before publication of the report, inspectors returned in March to assess the trust's progress.

The CQC focused on services judged in September to be causing the greatest concern: maternity, surgery and outpatients.

Its initial thoughts were that improvements had been made but inspectors had concerns about the "leadership and culture" of the trust.

The CQC said in March that any decision on special measures would be deferred until the full findings of the latest inspection had been considered.