- NHS hospital
The Princess Alexandra Hospital
Assessment report published 30 July 2026
Contents
Ratings - Urgent and emergency services
Our view of the service
The Princess Alexandra Hospital emergency department is based in Harlow and run by The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust.
We carried out this unannounced assessment of urgent and emergency services on the 11 and 12 November 2025 as part of our winter pressures work.
The service was last inspected in March 2023 where they were rated as overall requires improvement. They were in breach of the legal regulations in relation to staffing, and safe care and treatment. Improvements were found at this assessment.
We assessed this service using our single assessment framework and looked at all key questions and 24 quality statements.
We visited the following areas as part of this assessment:
- The Princess Alexandra Hospital Emergency Department
We spoke with staff across all disciplines, patients and their relatives, and reviewed care records to inform our judgements and rating for the service.
We found that the service did not always provide safe care and treatment, and patients were not always treated with dignity and respect. The emergency department faced challenges in managing patient flow to the wider hospital. As a result, some patients received patient privacy and dignity was affected.
We rated the service as requires improvement overall.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with patients, visitors, and relatives across the department. Patients were not fully positive about their experience. They said their privacy and dignity were sometimes compromised, especially in temporary escalation areas. Mental health patients stayed for long periods in unsuitable environments. However, patients and families praised staff for doing their best in difficult circumstances. They said staff communicated well and listened to them.