Problems which led to Whipps Cross Hospital being placed in special measures reflect a national issue with the NHS, according to Stella Creasy MP.

Care Quality Commission inspectors found poor standards of care and a culture of staff bullying at the Leytonstone hospital.

Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has been placed in special measures.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy said the report made for “grim reading”.

She said: "For too long residents in Walthamstow have been sharing horror stories of our local NHS, asking providers to get a grip of the problems they and their families have experienced only to be told their fears were mistaken.

“The CQC report makes for grim reading as it shows our concerns about our local hospital services are well founded.

“Patients and staff were right to speak up- yet I fear what has been uncovered at Whipps is just one piece of a much larger picture of a local NHS that is struggling under pressure.” 

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for Walthamstow, Nancy Taaffe, blamed government cuts for the crisis.

She said: “Barts Health Trust made a number of savings across hospitals after the use of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to fund redevelopment of the Royal London Hospital.

“The culture of management bullying and harassment is a direct consequence of trying to make NHS workers do more with less.

“Although the devastation caused by privatisation wasn’t immediately apparent, we made it clear from 2005 that future generations would be damaged and disadvantaged by it.”

Ms Taffee gave birth to both of her children at the hospital and said she has been a long term supporter of staff.

“We do not want to see a revolving door of 'new administrators' leeching off the public purse while those who deliver the service are run ragged and face pay cuts,” she added.

Barts Health, which also runs Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, St Bartholomews in The City, Newham University Hospital, Mile End Hospital and the London Chest Clinic, reported a debt of around £63million last year.

This is believed to have risen to around £90million due to liabilities relating to a private finance initiative (PFI) for redevelopment.

Trust chief executive Peter Morris, who has apologised for the failings, chairman Stephen O'Brien, and chief nurse Professor Kay Riley all recently announced they will step down.