A major incident has been declared at Colchester hospital as patients are asked to only visit accident and emergency if they have a “serious or life-threatening condition”.
The major incident was declared in an internal email to staff on Friday due to “an extreme lack of capacity”. Around 18 non-emergency operations were postponed on Thursday and Friday.
The major incident is expected to last for a week.
Separately, a surprise inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of the hospital’s A&E department and emergency assessment unit on Wednesday found concerns over “safeguarding” at the hospital.
Inspectors found one patient had been sedated with no evidence of consent and found a “do not resuscitate” notice on another patient had not been followed.
Prof Mike Richards, chief inspector of hospitals at CQC, said: “CQC carried out an unannounced inspection at Colchester hospital this week in response to concerns.
“Following the inspection, we gave feedback to the trust about our safeguarding concerns so that it could take appropriate action to ensure the safety and well-being of its patients.
“We will return to carry out further inspections at the trust and we are working urgently with Monitor [the health services regulator] to resolve these issues.”
Colchester hospital university NHS foundation trust said the CQC inspection was not the main reason for the declaration of a major incident, but did play a part.
In July, the CQC gave the hospital a rating of “requires improvement”.
Dr Lucy Moore, chief executive of Colchester hospital university NHS foundation trust, said: “The CQC raised a small number of safeguarding concerns when its team gave immediate feedback at the end of the inspection on Wednesday.”