Plans to name a third Oxford hospital after Lord Nuffield have been criticised for causing more confusion for patients.

NHS managers at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre have already criticised proposals by a new private hospital -- being built just a mile from their Windmill Road site, in Headington -- to adopt the Nuffield name.

But instead of acting on the complaints, private healthcare charity the Nuffield Hospital Group has revealed plans to use an almost identical title when re-naming its Acland Hospital site, in Banbury Road.

It said the new names, The Nuffield Hospital Oxford and The Nuffield Hospital Acland, were part of re-branding taking place across its 44 UK sites.

But the Oxford Mail has received letters from readers criticising the move, and offering alternative suggestions for the new hospital, which is being built at Oxford United's former Manor Ground club.

Terry Pratley, of School Road, Finstock, near Witney, said: "I think it'll be very confusing if they're all called Nuffield. Oxford's difficult to navigate as it is, without not knowing which hospital you're trying to get to."

Former John Radcliffe Hospital laboratory worker Geoffrey Richardson, of Alpha Avenue, Garsington, said: "It would be far better to leave the Acland as it is and stick with simpler names for both hospitals -- otherwise we'll have a Nuffield here and a Nuffield there. I'd like to see a bit of common sense used."

Norman Stimpson, of High Street, Drayton, near Abingdon, said: "It's all getting so complicated, and people will start getting in a muddle." No-one was available for comment from the NOC, where managers last week said they had already complained to the Nuffield Hospital group about the name.

Chief executive Ed Macalister-Smith had argued that the NOC had strong links with Oxford car manufacturer Lord Nuffield, who donated £70,000 to the hospital in 1930.

But Nuffield Hospital Group managers have also boasted of an association with the wealthy philanthropist, who was president of BUPA.

The organisation later founded a charity to buy-up failing private hospitals, and Lord Nuffield suggested the charity took his name.

Acland Hospital business development manager Mel Maclean said the city's oldest private hospital was already called the Acland Nuffield, although the full name had never been widely adopted.

She said: "The Acland is likely to stay open and be known as the Nuffield Hospital Acland. We recognise local concerns and this has given us food for thought."