Cambridge University Hospitals Trust, responsible for Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Rosie Birth Centre, has been found to be putting patients “at risk” and has been put into special measures.

In a report released today by the Care Quality Commission, Addenbrooke's Hospital was found to have “significant capacity issues” and “significant concerns in safety [and] responsiveness”. 

The report noted “areas of poor practice” across urgent and emergency services, surgery, critical care, medical care and end-of-life care.

Outpatients and maternity and gynaecology were rated inadequate.

The trust is one of the largest in the UK, with around 1,100 beds.

It provides services not only for the permanent local community but also the large student population of around 25,000.

NHS trusts and foundation trusts are put into special measures when there are “serious failures in care quality and where there are concerns that existing management cannot make the necessary improvements without support,” according to Monitor, the health services regulator.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, the Chief Inspector of Hospitals who penned the report based on the inspection, said that there was a “significant shortfall of staff in a number of areas” leading to medicines not being properly prescribed and the cancellation of routine operations because of a shortage of beds. 

The report also highlighted that the introduction of the EPIC IT system for clinical records, which had cost £200 million, had “affected the trust’s ability to report, highlight and take action on data”.

Monitor, which has placed the trust in special measures, said the trust had overspent on average £1.2 million per week, in spite of the trust predicting a budget deficit of £64 million in 2015/16.

Former chief Dr Keith McNeil, who resigned last week, blamed a “growing financial deficit” for some of the “serious challenges” facing the hospital.

In spite of the scale of the problems facing the hospital, the level of care was rated ‘outstanding’ and its services for children and young people were rated as ‘good’. In particular, the report stated that staff were “exceptionally caring” and that they “went the extra mile for their patients”. 

The report follows other recent challenges for the hospital trust. These include the resignation of chief financial officer Paul James in advance of the Care Quality Commission’s report, and paedophile doctor Myles Bradbury having been jailed for abusing 18 boys in his care at Addenbrooke’s.

In January, NHS England said that Cambridge University Hospitals were one of the worst performing NHS Foundation Trusts in the country.

Today's report, however, noted that the emergency department and major trauma centre were “efficient and effective”. 

Labour MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, criticised the government for the pressure put on the NHS.

“The Conservatives promised extra for the health service. We haven't seen it,” he said.

The Department of Health has not yet released a response to his criticism. 

Stuart Tuckwood, a spokesperson for the public sector trade union UNISON, where Mr Zeichner worked from 2002-2015 as a political officer before his election in May, told the BBC: “To be told that the hospital is inadequate… is a slap in the face to our members and the healthcare staff that work there.”

The chair of the trust, Jane Ramsay, said: “I would like to say sorry to our patients for a lack of effective systems and processes across our trust, which led to the CQC rating our hospitals as inadequate.”

She went on to promise patients: “We will take rapid action to address concerns and maintain our record of safety and high-quality care.”