Special measures call for East Sussex NHS trust

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

East Sussex NHS trust should be put in special measures after it was rated "inadequate" by inspectors, say councillors.

Eastbourne borough councillors voted unanimously in favour of asking the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to take the action, at a meeting on Wednesday.

The motion they passed also called for the leaders of the trust to resign.

But, trust chairman Stuart Welling said he had no plans to step down and was confident improvements could be made.

The motion was put to the full council after members of the health overview and committee said they had no confidence in the bosses of the trust when they met on Friday.

'Honourable action'

It called on the chief inspector of hospitals at the CQC to "place the trust into special measures and write to the Secretary of State to make him aware of this action".

"We also call upon the individuals concerned to take the honourable course of action by resigning their posts and allowing the trust to rebuild," it said.

A CQC report published in March rated the trust "inadequate", with maternity, surgery and outpatients' services being the areas of greatest concern.

Following Friday's meeting, Mr Welling said the trust had an action plan to address issues and he was confident that with the "support of the board and staff, we will be able to make the improvements required".

The CQC said a new inspection was carried out in March and decision on special measures would be deferred until the full findings of its latest visit had been considered.