A UNION says morale at a hospital trust branded inadequate is at an all-time low.

Unison says it is “extremely concerned” about the findings of a report into East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last week.

The CQC has yet to decide whether to place the trust, which runs Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards, into special measures.

Unison’s Hastings and Eastbourne branch said the report highlighted “a complete lack of leadership at the trust”.

It said its members at the trust were under extreme pressure and suffering increasing stress levels due to unprecedented workloads.

There have also been reports of “more and more cases of poor communication and bullying, which has left morale at an all time low”.

Unison branch secretary Jonathan Lee said: “We have been telling senior managers for some time now that our members have had enough, unfortunately our warnings have gone unheeded and now we face a collapsed service.

“The public and patients are fully supportive of the staff at the trust and Unison will continue to support members.”

The Campaign for Change Eastbourne pressure group said the rating came as no surprise.

A spokesman said: “The CQC has told the trust’s management it must review staffing levels across the organisation to ensure there are sufficient staff to meet the needs of the service.

“Most worryingly, despite the reconfiguration which saw some acute services being moved from Eastbourne to the Conquest and vice versa, the CQC has identified insufficient staffing levels in most surgical areas in both hospitals.

“It is also evident from the CQC report the trust’s management has much to do when it comes to communication – not only with patients and the community but also with its own staff.”

In Eastbourne critical care was rated good, surgery and outpatients were both rated inadequate, and accident and emergency, medical care, children’s services and end of life care were said to be requiring improvement.

Medical and critical care at the Conquest were rated as good, while improvements were required for accident and emergency, children’s services and end of life care.

Surgery and maternity were both rated inadequate.

Inspectors found every service to be caring and compassionate and patients commented positively about the staff providing their care.