ALMOST half of employees at Oxfordshire’s largest NHS trust would not recommend the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford as a place to work, according to a recent staff survey.

Just 56 per cent of workers at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust would encourage others to work there according to the quarterly survey, which is well below some other major hospitals in the south east such as Royal Berkshire Hospital (67 per cent), Southampton General Hospital (78 per cent) and Stoke Mandeville Hospital (61 per cent).

In April it was revealed how hundreds of staff at the trust had been made physically ill because of work-related stress.

OUH, which employs almost 12,000 people, said it was actively working to improve and develop working conditions.

The trust has struggled to fill a number of front line positions including dozens of nursing and midwifery roles, placing added pressure on the already stretched workforce.

To make matters worse, NHS review website, NHS Choices, incorrectly states that only 56 members of staff would recommend the trust (rather than 56 per cent) out of more than 1,800 respondents.

The trust said it had raised the error with the website on July 16.

Interim director of workforce at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liz O’Hara, said: “We acknowledge that there is room for improvement in terms of staff who would recommend working for our trust, and we’re committed to making it a better place to work by working closely with them to improve this score in the future.”

She added: "In terms of recruitment, we think that people considering working at our trust would be more likely to access our own website or NHS Jobs than NHS Choices.

“While we think it’s important to correct the error, we’d encourage people to visit our own website if they’re thinking of working here.”

“There is a bigger picture in terms of recruitment issues, including the cost of living in the local area – and recruitment issues are faced by the NHS nationally.

“There are positive factors in working at the trust including its reputation as a world renowned centre of clinical excellence, its relationship with the university, and our highly developed education programme for both new and experienced nurses.

“Staff well-being and feedback is very important to us at the trust, and we use the staff survey to collate comments and feedback from our staff, and use these results to take action to improve and develop working conditions.

“We’re currently working on recruitment and retention action plans to make the Trust a better place to work, and continue to provide health and well-being support to staff.”

In the annual OUH staff survey published in April, 41 per cent of respondents said work-related stress had made them ill.