Beds are overflowing and staff are “struggling to cope” at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, which has been placed in special measures.

The Harlow hospital has been rated as “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in a new report, which found NHS trust bosses were disconnected and unaware of many issues in the wards.

The report, published today (October 19), says there are “significant capacity issues” at the hospital, which cares for many people from Epping Forest.

With high demand for 460 beds, the hospital’s trust was having to reassess bed capacity at least three times a day when it was inspected in June.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, chief inspector of hospitals for the CQC, said: “This pressure on beds meant that patients were allocated the next available bed rather than being treated on a ward specifically for their condition.

“We found that staff shortages meant that wards were struggling to cope with the numbers of patients and that staff were moved from one ward to cover staff shortages on others.”

Urgent and emergency services, critical care and end of life care were all rated as inadequate, while medical care including older people’s care, surgery, services for children and young people are all said to require improvement.

Phil Morley, chief executive of the Princess Alexandra NHS Trust which also runs St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping, said: “We are of course disappointed with this rating, we know that we deliver good care here and that patients have good outcomes from their treatment at PAH.

“We know that the hospital isn’t perfect, our emergency department, like many others across the country, is very busy and capacity across the hospital means that too frequently patients have unacceptable delays.

“However, our patients should be in no doubt that our staff are 100 per cent committed to delivering good care, we were pleased this was recognised by the CQC.”

Despite the CQC recommending a long list of improvements, the hospital’s maternity and gynaecology care were found to be “outstanding”.

The report says: “Staff providing both maternity and gynaecology care were dedicated, compassionate, caring and consistently went beyond the call of duty to deliver the best experience possible for the women.”

Since the June inspection, the hospital has tried to reduce pressures with a new programme to improve “patient flow”, reduce bed occupancy and reduce patient delays.

While in special measures, the hospital has to publish progress each month on its website – something currently impossible as the site has been offline since September 9 when it was hit by hackers.

Professor Nancy Fontaine, chief nurse and deputy chief executive, said: “We recognise we face considerable challenges, not least increasing demand for our services and a hospital that was not built to see the volumes of patients that now annually come through our doors.

“But this is not an excuse, we will face these challenges head on and we are confident that we have the support of our staff in our continuing efforts for improvement.”

The hospital will be inspected again within 12 months.

Have you or a family member been treated at the Princess Alexandra Hospital? Like to share your experience? Get in touch with reporter Joseph Flaig by phoning 07795 316 211 or emailing joseph.flaig@london.newsquest.co.uk.