Hospital staff are unable to say when its website will return online after confirming it was hit by hackers.

A spokeswoman for the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust in Harlow said there was no indication of whether the site would be working in days, weeks or months.

The hospital website, www.pah.nhs.uk, went offline after it was hit by hackers on September 9.

The site’s security was “compromised” in the attack but a spokeswoman for the NHS trust said no patient data was held on the website, so there have been no breaches of confidential information.

It is not yet known who hacked the site, but police and the internet service provider are investigating.

Despite the site being offline for almost three weeks, today (September 28) the spokeswoman said: “I cannot advise a specific time that the website will be back online.

“We are conscious that patients need to access online information and we are working hard to implement our website contingency plan.”

The website is hosted externally, meaning the hospital’s internal IT systems were not affected.

The issue has been reported to the Department of Health and it has been reviewed internally.

People are advised to visit NHS Choices at www.nhs.uk for general queries or for more information about the hospital.

For hospital queries, phone 01279 444 455 or for appointments phone 01279 827 391.