A child was left in a bed with a blood-stained sheet for two days at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, inspectors found.

Meanwhile another parent had to change their child's sheets after the child had wet the bed, because there were no nursing staff readily available to help.

The examples was cited among several cases of poor care provided by the N&N's children's department (Jenny Lind Children's Hospital), which was heavily criticised by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and rated as 'requires improvement'.

The inspectors said the children's emergency department was 'not fit for purpose'.

It has two cubicles and a treatment area within the waiting room.

As well as the children's emergency department, the Jenny Lind unit comprises the children's outpatient's department; a children's assessment unit; a children's day ward; a children's ward named Buxton ward; and the provision of six beds on the day procedure unit named Lion ward.

But inspectors found staffing levels in nursing were consistently below the requirements of the service, due to high levels of maternity and sickness leave.

And the children's day ward and Lion ward did not have appropriate security measures in place. There was no lock or intercom system in place, which meant that anyone could walk onto the wards.

In addition, door handles were within reach of children, which meant that children could let themselves out of wards.

There was no mental health nurse provision for mentally unwell children admitted to the service, and few staff had any mental health competencies to care appropriately for these children, the inspectors said.

However the CQC said nurses were consistently caring towards patients and their families and children, who regularly attended the service enjoyed spending time with the nursing staff.

The inspection was carried out in November last year.

Mark Davies, chief executive at the trust, said the security and safety issues raised by the CQC had been addressed.

The trust had 8,932 hospital admissions for children between January 2014 and December 2014, of which 74pc were emergency admissions.

•Read more from the inspection report here