The heads of a hospital trust branded inadequate by inspectors are in a stand-off with watchdogs after insisting they have no plans to resign.

Darren Grayson and Stuart Welling from East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust faced calls to step down when they gave evidence at an East Sussex health overview and scrutiny committee today.

Committee members voted unanimously to declare no confidence in trust chief executive Mr Grayson and chairman Mr Welling.

Members also said improvements had to be made at the trust as a “matter of urgency”.

However Mr Welling said the pair had not handing in their resignations and had no intentions of doing so.

A damning report into the trust was issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) earlier this year following an inspection in September.

The results of a follow-up visit made in March are due to be published in July.

CQC inspectors found a “worrying disconnect” between senior managers and frontline staff, allegations of bullying and a leader ship described as a “dictatorship”.

Concerns were also raised about the trust’s surgery and maternity and outpatients services.

The trust says it was already aware of many of the issues raised in the report and steps were being taken to improve them.

However scrutiny committee members at County Hall in Lewes said Mr Welling and Mr Grayson should have resigned when the report was published.

Mr Welling said: “The chief executive and I have no intention of resigning.

“There is still work to be done here, the organisation is on a journey of improvement and it takes prolonged and sustained
effort to resolve.

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

Mr Grayson rejected accusations the trust was in denial about the scale of its problems and said he  took the findings of the report extremely seriously.

He said an action plan had been drawn up and was being implemented and the changes being made were having an impact but there was still a long way to go.

Mr Grayson said the trust had a track record of facing up to its problems and tackling them.

The committee is now setting up a working group to look at the trust’s improvement plan in more detail and will meet again after the publication of the second CQC report.